Freddie Burns

Freddie Burns

Personal information
Full name	Freddie Burns
Date of birth	(1990-05-13) 13 May 1990
Place of birth	Bath, England
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	87 kg (13 st 10 lb)[1]
School	Beechen Cliff School
Club information
Position	Fly-half.Fullback
Current club	Leicester Tigers
Senior clubs*
Years Club Apps (points) 2007–2014 2014– Gloucester Rugby Leicester Tigers 127 (1,016) 37 (239)
Representative teams
2009-2010 2010–2012 2012– England U20 England Saxons England 10 (56) 0 (0) 5 (57)
* Professional club appearances and points counted for domestic first grade only and correct as of 12 February 2016.

Freddie Burns (born 13 May 1990) is an English Rugby Union player who plays fly-half for Leicester Tigers and England.

Burns won his first full international cap at Twickenham on 1 December 2012, coming on as a replacement and scoring two penalty goals from two attempts to help England beat New Zealand, the reigning World Champions, by 38 points to 21.

Burns is a former pupil of Beechen Cliff School in Bath. His younger brother Billy Burns who plays for Gloucester Rugby also attended the school.

Burns is known as an exciting young English fly half, citing New Zealander Carlos Spencer as one of his inspirations. He was encouraged as a youngster to trust his instincts, having been mentored by Spencer, a prodigious talent at the time.

Club career

On 6 June 2008 Burns was announced as part of the intake to Gloucester Rugby's academy, joining from Bath Rugby's academy.^[2]

On 30 June 2009 Gloucester Rugby announced that Burns was one of a number of academy players to sign senior contracts.^[3]

In January 2010 he re-signed with Gloucester, committing himself until the end of the 2011/12 season.^[4]

His contract was renewed in the Spring of 2012.^[5]

Burns came in for Gloucester in the game against Biarritz Olympique and got a conversion.^[6] In the next game he made his first start at fullback at Kingsholm against Australia. In this game he scored a try. In the following match he was once again selected at fullback and he scored two penalties against the Cardiff Blues.^[7] However next game Olly Morgan replaced Burns at fullback and Burns made a start at fly-half. Burns then scored all of his clubs points with two converted tries.^[8] Burns has since played many games at fly-half and fullback, including an April 2010 performance against Saracens. In this game he was named the man of the match as a reward for his outstanding kicking from hand, goal kicking and composure under the high ball. The highlight of this match was when Burns chipped over a rushing Saracen defence allowing Charlie Sharples to score a vital try in the corner.^[9]

He joined Leicester Tigers at the end of the 2013-14 season.^[10]

International career

Burns represented his country at under 20 level and played in the 2010 IRB Junior World Championship in Argentina in 2010.

Burns represented England Saxons against Ireland and Scotland A, and his form earned him selection into the England EPS squad for the Barbarians game on 27 May 2012.

On 1 December 2012, Burns made his England debut, replacing Owen Farrell during the 38-21 victory over New Zealand, during which he scored his first international points with two penalties.^[11] Burns then went on to join the 2013 England tour and played at number 10 vs Argentina in both tests. He scored two penalties and three out of four conversions in the first game when the team won 32-3, and also scored his first England try. He started the first test against New Zealand at Eden Park in June 2014, kicking 12 points in a 20-15 England loss.

International tries

Try	Opposing team	Location	Venue	Competition	Date	Result	Score
1	Argentina	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Vélez Sársfield	Summer International	000000002013-06-15-000015 June 2013	Win	52 - 26[12]

References