Freddie Burns' stunted career acts as warning sign for brother Billy
Billy Burns is 24, he was a long-time servant with Gloucester having picked up his 100th appearance for the club in the European Challenge Cup final defeat to Cardiff Blues in Bilbao. But the writing was on the wall when Danny Cipriani signed for the club, Burns would be vying with a newly recalled England international and Owen Williams, a regular Wales squad member.
Burns’ versatility saw him operate at 15 for Gloucester, but ask any outhalf, they want to stay in that pivot position. In many ways his situation is similar to that of Joey Carbery at Leinster, effectively third choice 10 at club level, but with international rugby in mind – both moved.
Burns insisted he was “very happy” at Gloucester but the former England U18 and U20 international had his road blocked at club level, meaning that senior honours were bordering on nil. “The interest was there from Ulster and, of course, a chance to pursue my ambitions of playing international rugby. To play at the highest level of the game is something any player wants to do” Burns said after completing his move to Ulster.
He didn’t have too far to look when it came to the difficulties of breaking into the international fold – his brother Freddie. Freddie Burns is just 28 years old, he should be in his prime, however his England days are effectively over. He made his debut in England’s thrilling 38-21 win over the All Blacks in November 2012, but remains stuck on 5 caps.
“I feel like I’ve been in good form for 18 months to two years now, but if I was going to play for England again they would have picked me in the summer (for the tour to Argentina) given how I’d played for Leicester.” Freddie Burns told The Rugby Paper last November.
“I’ve not spoken to anyone involved with England since Mike Catt told me I wouldn’t be in the World Cup squad two years ago. That’s not me getting my violin out, I’ve just got to an age now where I have a lot of hopes and aspirations but realise sport is defined by a coach’s opinion of you. I’d love to play for England again, but it’s unlikely to happen under Eddie”
Freddie Burns is even further away from Eddie Jones’ plans now, a move to his hometown club Bath hasn’t worked out in the way he might have liked, he’s found Rhys Priestland a difficult man to shift. Internationally Alex Lozowski and Piers Francis have moved ahead of him, as has Marcus Smith, not to mention Cipriani, George Ford and Owen Farrell.
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His tweet to his brother Billy proved telling too “Congrats bro! Proved your worth over the last few years and deserve to be backed by such a big club #SUFTUM #proud”. The inference seems clear, that Gloucester may not have fully backed or been convinced by his little brother, the signing of Cipriani reaffirmed this. Burns senior probably also had his own situation at previous club Leicester Tigers in mind too, when he was effectively used as a makeweight for the transfer of George Ford, something that did not go down well.
“I had a year on my contract. I’m a man of integrity and wanted to see it out”, Burns told the BBC after his move from Welford Road to Bath was confirmed.
“I am disappointed with the way it came about and the way it was dealt with.”
Congrats bro! Proved your worth over the last few years and deserve to be backed by such a big club #SUFTUM #proud https://t.co/vfkisUkgzh
— Freddie Burns (@FreddieBurns) July 9, 2018
So, Billy has learned first-hand from a club and international perspective from his brother. What awaits him at Ulster? Johnny McPhillips certainly stepped up once Christian Lealiifano left in January and in the absence of Paddy Jackson, who eventually departed the club. McPhillips certainly won’t want to relinquish the shirt without a fight, but Ulster clearly see Burns as their main man. The new head coach Dan McFarland doesn’t start until January due to his commitments with Scotland, with Ireland forwards coach and former Scarlets head coach Simon Easterby the interim measure.
Those few months with Easterby could be vital for Burns if he’s going to force his way into the international reckoning, a chance to regularly impress first-hand one of Joe Schmidt’s coaching team. He will be aided by the fact that scrum half John Cooney was a revelation last season, so much so he earned a call-up for Ireland’s tour to Australia, coming off the bench to win his second cap in the 26-21 win over the Wallabies in Melbourne.
Billy Burns was nowhere near the 2019 World Cup last week, fast forward to Monday when he completed his move to the Irish province, he has a realistic chance of playing in Japan and has 14 months to prove it. As it stands it would be as third-choice, competing with Leinster’s Ross Byrne. Johnny Sexton is as immovable as they come when it comes to first choice international outhalves. Joey Carbery, who will be alongside Ireland scrum half Conor Murray at Munster, is also a long-term pet project of Schmidt’s which began when he threw a raw 21-year-old into a Chicago cauldron as Ireland beat the All Blacks (40-29) for the first time. In pretty much all respects Billy Burns had nothing to lose and plenty to gain and Ireland have added a fourth option to their outhalf mix, Freddie Burns would love to be that close with England.
Comments on RugbyPass
It’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
24 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
1 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
24 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
24 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
14 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
24 Go to comments