Banned for biting, former Wolfpack player Jack Bussey joins Featherstone

TORONTO — Jack Bussey, suspended last season for biting while playing for the Toronto Wolfpack, has rejoined Featherstone Rovers.

Bussey started his rugby league career with Featherstone, joining the Wolfpack for its inaugural 2017 season after a stint with London Broncos.

“There was interest from other clubs, but I didn’t really want to go anywhere else,” Bussey was quoted on the Featherstone website. “In a way, it’s like I’m coming home.”

Featherstone finished fifth in the second-tier Betfred Championship last season. Toronto topped the division but missed out on promotion to the elite Super League after losing the so-called “Million Pound Game” 4-2 to London.

Bussey still has seven games of his ban to serve.

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The 26-year-old English forward was sent home by the Wolfpack after the biting incident in a Sept. 15 playoff game with visiting Toulouse. He was subsequently banned 10 games — eight for biting and two for a high tackle — by the Rugby Football League

“It’s well-documented, with regard to myself and what happened at the end of last year,” Bussey said. “It’s not something I’m proud of. It was a heat-of-the moment thing and something I won’t repeat.

“I believe I’m in a much better atmosphere now and I’m enjoying being back here (in England) training. I’ve gone from not seeing my family for months while living out of a hotel, to now where I see my family nearly every day. I feel a lot better in myself now, knowing that I’ve got people around me rather than having to wait until there’s a convenient time to FaceTime them. That was hard.”

Bussey beat cancer while with the Wolfpack, undergoing surgery after doctors found a lump in the thyroid. He underwent surgery in May 2017 in his English hometown of Leeds.

He returned to the field in June 2017, scoring a try in Toronto’s 66-0 away win over the South Wales Ironmen. Amazingly he just missed four games.

The five-foot-11 234-pounder wears a nine-centimetre scar on his neck as a reminder of his close call.

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press