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Find your frequency herePrank calling Di Caprio and Warnie: How Souths landed Burgess
SEN • August 13th, 2025 6:19 pm
Sam Burgess has revealed he hung up on Russell Crowe numerous times when the Hollywood star was trying to sign him to the Rabbitohs because he was convinced it was a prank caller.
Burgess, who helped guide the Rabbitohs to its first premiership in 43 years back in 2014, played 176 games for the club across two stints, but his arrival almost didn’t happen.
Burgess had his heart set on signing with Manly under the leadership of Des Hasler until Crowe got in touch.
Knowing Burgess wanted a move to Australia, Crowe, who was filming Robin Hood in the UK at the time, put in the calls.
“We were playing down in Wales at the time,’ Burgess told David Lloyd, Sir Alastair Cook, Phil Tuffnell and Michael Vaughan on The Overlap and Betfair's Stick to Cricket show.
“I'm just getting a massage - you're not really supposed to have your phone on the massage beds - but I took the call because I was taking anything at the time. It was Russell Crowe on the phone!
“I thought someone was pranking me, so I hung up. I thought: ‘I'm not paying a fine just for someone on a prank phone call’.
“Anyway, he rang me back a few times, I let it go through’.”
Eventually, Burgess answered.
“He said: ‘It's Russell Crowe. I want to catch up with you, I want to meet you. Do you want to come play in Australia?
‘I said: “Yes, I do.” He said: “Okay then. I'm filming a movie in Derby, I'll be there next week, you want to come down?”’
Burgess took some friends with him to meet with Crowe and the drinks flowed leading to some prank calling of their own.
“We end up having a great feed, didn't talk one thing about rugby, but we got a little bit p---ed,” Burgess said.
“We were prank calling off Russell's phone - that's how the night finished up. We prank-called all these movie stars,’ he said.
“We rang Leonardo DiCaprio. We rang Shane Warne - Warney, big mate. We rang a few other people. I'm thinking, this is amazing, how fun is this?”
It was a few days later that Burgess and Crowe talked shop and the deal was done.
Burgess played with he Rabbitohs from 2010-14 and 2016-19 with a one year break to paly union between.
Since retiring from the game he has taken up a coaching role with Warrington in the UK Super League.
