Baby joy at Souths: Bunny in the oven for Sam’s Phoebe

THERE’S a baby Burgess on the way. Rugby league royalty Sam Burgess and his wife Phoebe are expecting their first child.

Happy bunnies... Sam and wife Phoebe are expecting their first child. Source: INSTAGRAM

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THERE’S a baby Burgess on the way.

Rugby league royalty Sam Burgess and his wife Phoebe are expecting their first child.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal the elated couple have told family and friends the news after Phoebe reached the end of her first trimester last week. With Burgess’s Rabbitohs playing the Manly Sea Eagles last night, neither were available to comment, although Phoebe recently spoke to The Telegraph of her desire to start a family.

“Sam loves kids,” she said last month. “He plays like a child with them. We sit around and it is always Sam who is holding or playing with a child. He’ll be a natural dad for sure.”

Both are 27 years old.

The couple take in a movie at Moore Park. Picture: Walker Australia/ Australscope

Phoebe clutches stomach. Picture: Walker Australia/ Australscope

Clucky... Phoebe with sister Harriet and her baby at last night’s Souths game. Picture: Brett Costello

Sam’s elder brother Luke has a daughter named Grace while Phoebe’s sister Jemima is mother to Digby and Sibella. “I am surrounded by inspirational, amazing women who are the strongest people I’ve ever met and I’m also surrounded by inspirational men and a lot of them are parents,” she said. “I think it would be an amazing club to be a part of, if and when that happens.”

It has been a fairytale romance for the pair, who met through friends in 2014 and were married on Phoebe’s parents’ Southern Highlands property in December.

After a stint living in the UK while Burgess played rugby for Bath, they resettled in Australia last year. “I am extremely proud and will always be so proud of being Sam’s wife; it is one of my favourite things about myself,” Phoebe said.

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Radiant... Phoebe Burgess. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Sam and Phoebe Burgess pictured at Bondi. Source: Instagram

The mum-to-be isn’t slowing down though. With a friend she ­recently launched her own pilates activewear range called Love Your Form and has been posting images of her fitness regimen. She is also a regular on Nine’s Today show.

“They’re over the moon and can’t wait,” a friend of the couple said. “They are really so happy. They’ve been carrying on as normal, no particular cravings for Phoebe so far. She feels very lucky.”