Sam Burgess has shed light on his face-to-face meeting with Russell Crowe and reveals the movie star clinched his signature for South Sydney after charming his mum.

The 20-year-old England forward sparked furious transfer activity among leading NRL clubs when he made public his desire to play in Australia and Crowe, who has a controlling interest in Souths, was one of the first on the phone.

Crowe was in England at the time, filming for a new Robin Hood movie, and, at his invitation, Burgess met the Hollywood actor in his trailer on the set in Derbyshire and took his mother along for the ride.

"She is a big fan of his and begged me to take her down,'' he explains, "so I took her down for the day and she enjoyed it.

"She was a bit star-struck at the time but he's a down-to-earth guy and he brought her round.

"It was pretty surreal, meeting an A-list celebrity. When he phoned, I thought it was my mate, Glen Morrison, winding me up.

"But it was nice to meet him. He's a humble bloke and he likes rugby league.''

So presumably Burgess could not say 'no' to arguably the highest-profile celebrity in the game?

"To be honest, the name Russell Crowe was not the factor,'' he says. "It was the fact that he's that passionate about winning and he sold the club to me.

"They have just got a $26million facility and are a club on the up. They have signed a good crop of young players and they're trying to build for the future.

"There were a few clubs in contact but only a few could make it happen for 2010 and Souths were one of them. They seemed like the club for me.''

With another 12 months to run on his contract with Bradford, Souths were forced to pay a handsome transfer fee, thought to be around £200,000, to finally make Burgess' dream come true with a four-year contract.

"The lifestyle was a massive attraction for me,'' he explains. "Since I was a young kid, I always wanted to be outdoors kicking a ball about.

"And people say the NRL is the toughest competition and I want to challenge myself over there.''

Burgess has not looked back since bursting onto the scene in 2007. He was Super League's young player of the year and made an impressive Great Britain debut at the age of 18, playing a key role in the 3-0 whitewash of New Zealand.

Sadly for England, the versatile forward missed the World Cup through injury but was outstanding in the recent warm-up match against Wales and, after helping his side get off to a winning start in the Gillette Four Nations against France, his big test will come against the Kangaroos at Wigan on Saturday.

"I've never played against the Aussies before so it's a new challenge for me and, going to the NRL next year, it will be a nice taste of what's coming for me,'' he says.

"I've been asked a few times if it's a chance to impress but the key is not to try too hard, just to play my normal game and not over-work.

"I've got to do the right things for the team and my performance will come off the back of that.''

Australia coach Tim Sheens is looking forward to seeing the Bulls youngster in action after revealing that his Wests Tigers were one of the clubs who lost out in pursuit of his signature.

"(Huddersfield coach) Nathan Brown gave him a big rap to me,'' he says.

"We were interested in him but we couldn't compete with Russell Crowe's money.

"There's every chance he'll be a success in Australia.''