Burns hopes top four can spark Test bid
BILLY Burns intends throwing down the gauntlet to England’s front line fly-halves by guiding underachieving Gloucester into Premiership title contention.
Burns, 23, currently resides down England’s pecking order but last week made a statement by outplaying rival Alex Lozowski during his side’s victory over Saracens.
Former England U20s star Burns reckons the faith being shown in him by new head coach Johan Ackerman is paying dividends, with his battle for the club’s No.10 jersey with summer arrival Owen Williams a factor behind his impressive form. Burns told The Rugby
Paper: “I don’t look at those individual match-ups too much, I just want to help win games for Gloucester and wherever that puts me in the England pecking order is where it puts me, but I do have Test ambitions – 100 per cent.
“The Gloucester coaches are putting a lot of faith in me and, hopefully, I’m repaying them.
“Last year was my first full year starting games in the Premiership and I learned a lot of lessons. This year we’re a new team with a very different style of play and structure under Johan, which is enjoyable to play in and I’m performing well.
“We want to see Gloucester playing in the top four and if your club’s doing well you’ve got a better chance of international honours. It’s still early in the season but we’ve started well and had really good wins over Exeter, Bath and Saracens.”
Burns is relishing his competition with Williams, explaining: “Owen’s a bit more experienced, so I’ve enjoyed having him around and, hopefully, I’ve taught him a few things as well.
“It’s one of those relationships where we’re fighting for a position but we’re both happy to help each other out, which is benefitting the team as well. I’m doing everything I can to keep hold of the shirt and we’re both becoming better players.”
Burns would love nothing more than a title battle with Bath, where brother Freddie is settling in well. He adds: “It would be awesome. We’ve both got our heads screwed on and there’s a long way to go, but hopefully results keep coming.”