Sam Burgess plays his final game for Bath© David Jones/Getty Images

Bath head coach Mike Ford believes Sam Burgess left rugby union too early and says he has been left "gutted" and "disappointed" by the cross-code convert's return to Australia.

Burgess ended his short association with union when he returned to the South Sydney Rabbitohs last week, following a disappointing Rugby World Cup with England. The 26-year-old cited "family reasons" for his decision to quit Bath just one year into his three-year contract.

"I had a lot of final words with Sam and I was surprised the deal with Souths happened so quickly," Ford told the Telegraph after his side's 45-14 Aviva Premiership victory at London Irish on Saturday.

"I'm gutted and disappointed because he could have been a very good rugby union player. For me it was the start of his career at Bath career.

"For me it was a time for him to roll up his sleeves and crack on but for family reasons he decided to move back to Australia. Everyone was disillusioned after the World Cup.

"He came in on Monday and I thought there was a time when he was going to be strong. He trained and spoke to the players on Monday and Tuesday, and he would have been on the bench today [against London Irish]. And then we thought about Toulon and you get excited again. But then by Wednesday night he was negotiating with Souths and the whole thing accelerated very quickly. I was surprised how quickly."

Where best to play Burgess provoked much debate throughout England's troublesome World Cup campaign. He was deployed as blind-side flanker for club side Bath, but England boss Stuart Lancaster and his coaches opted to play the Yorkshireman as a centre.

Ford, though, maintained Burgess' best position was in the back-row.

"No-one can change my mind that Sam Burgess is a back-row player - that's who he is," Ford added via BBC Radio 5 Live. "We wanted him on the field as a ball carrier and a tackler, that's what he did and it worked for us the way we played.

"Going from six to 12 for how England wanted to play, it's the same job. But with Bath he touched the ball more, made more tackles, had more involvements. I said to him he could play 12 with England then easily come back to us and play six. I stand by that.

"It's disappointing as I feel he has potentially left too early and we're short of a very good back-row player, and England are short of a potentially good back-row player internationally."