Sam Burgess reveals how Ryan Hall left him in awe ahead of historic clash
RYAN Hall needs no reminding Super League will reach its milestone 5,000th match given his prowess with numbers.
Sam Burgess knows all about that after being left in awe when they were England team-mates.
The Leeds winger and Warrington boss linked up regularly for the national side, lining up alongside each other in the 2017 World Cup final.
And while Hall uses his head on the field, with his inadvertent assist for Jack Sinfield’s try against Wigan, off it he proved his way of thinking can leave people bamboozled.
Burgess, whose side faces Hall’s Rhinos tonight in the historic clash, recalled: “Ryan’s out there and can be a bit random but it’s great for a team that he thinks differently.
“I loved his presence in the England group and is a maths whizz.
“He once gave the probability of two people in the same room having the same birthday, out of a group of 30.
“A couple of blokes had the same birthday and I said, ‘That must be pretty rare.’ Ryan went, ‘No, it’s more common that you’d think,’ and broke it down into a maths equation.
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“That was a lot higher than I expected. This was at 8am and he couldn’t believe I didn’t understand him. I don’t understand him anyway!
“I enjoy those conversations. I like to know how he’s thinking.”
Hall, 37, is Super League’s record try scorer but has already signalled he wants to play on in 2026 after reaching 500 career appearances last week.
And his approach to his own landmark match – essentially ‘It’s just another game’ – delighted Burgess.
He added: “It doesn’t surprise me.
“I know Hally really well and know what he’s about. He knows who he is, he’s confident in who he is. He doesn’t change for anyone and I respect that about him.
“He’s been consistently good for more than a decade-and-a-half now. 500 games is a lot, what a great achievement.
“But I liked how he managed it as well. That was Ryan down to a T, he’s always been a team-first guy.”