Sam Burgess pleads guilty to drug driving charge

Former NRL player Sam Burgess has entered guilty pleas to traffic charges including driving with an illicit drug in his blood after being pulled over on the Hume Highway in February.

The 32-year-old former South Sydney captain appeared before Moss Vale Local Court on Tuesday where his lawyer Bryan Wrench told Magistrate Mark Douglass it had been a “trace amount”.

Mr Burgess was driving a BMW X5 when he was pulled over at Braemar in the NSW Southern Highlands on February 22 and subjected to a random roadside drug test.

He sat silently behind Mr Wrench as the lawyer said he would plead guilty to driving a vehicle with an illicit substance in his blood, driving an unregistered vehicle, and driving without a NSW licence.

Sam Burgess outside court on Tuesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De MarchiSource:News Corp Australia

Mr Wrench said media reports had incorrectly stated Mr Burgess was “driving under the influence” and in fact “only trace amounts” were found in his blood.

He has been at a “residential program” and cleared several urine tests, Mr Wrench told the court.

“He’s even got a hair test to prove this is not systemic conduct,” he said.

Mr Burgess will return to court on Tuesday afternoon.

The former South Sydney captain was cleared on appeal of intimidating his former father-in-law Mitchell Hooke in March.

More to come.

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