Few signings would have raised as many eyebrows as Munster snapping up Billy Burns. After all he was released by Ulster before Munster offered him a one-year deal. But, a little like JJ Hanrahan at Connacht, after 250-plus games with Gloucester and Ulster, it could prove to be an astute piece of business, and both Munster and Burns would like to see it develop into something more long-term.
By his own admission his form had tapered off in the last couple of seasons. So when the end came at Ulster he had read the tea leaves.
“It was tough, definitely was. I probably expected it a little bit the way things played out. When you get to my age you can kind of see the way that things are tracking. It’s never nice to leave a place not necessarily on your own terms. But, within a week I got the call from Graham [Rowntree] and straight away it’s such an exciting prospect. What a great club to come to.”
A change can be as good as a rest.
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“I was at Ulster for such a long period of time and I loved my time there. I’ve nothing but good things to say about the place, but sometimes a change in environment, in ideas, maybe a way of seeing the game, has really given me a new lease of life.”
Given the example of his older brother Freddy and James Hook in his own early days at Gloucester, Burns has always vowed “I want to be that guy”, adding: “I’m not too proud to say I want to learn off these young lads as well.”
He won the last of his seven Irish caps in the 2021 Six Nations
“It was a really strange time, that period, because it was during Covid and I went in and through nobody else’s fault but my own I probably wasn’t quite myself.
“I went in there and felt that I had to change the player that I was because I was in that environment, but what I’d been picked for was what I’d been doing at club level. I definitely have regrets in certain things that I’d maybe do differently, and, listen, I might have done them differently and still it might not have been the perfect outcome.”
His inventive short kicking game has heightened value at a time when defences are pushing up hard and, still only 30, most outhalf careers do not have the linear trajectory from a young age of a Dan Carter or a Jonny Wilkinson. The standout 10s of the professional era in Ireland, namely Eric Elwood, David Humphreys, Ronan O’Gara and Johnny Sexton, all played their best rugby in their 30s.
More than any other position it’s one you have to learn from experience, not all of them positive.
“Definitely, and I’ve had enough of those tough days. Do you know what? I’ve always toyed with: ‘would I change them?’ Yeah, of course I’d change them if I could, but they’ve kind of made me the person that I am now, and I feel like I’m a very resilient player now in terms of knowing not everything is going to be perfect, but I’d maybe make mistakes in games in the past and let it affect me. Now, with age and experience, I feel like I’m a much more level person, and I can park those moments, move on and not let them affect me too much.”
