Billy Burns once wore the red rose of England in the Under-20s Six Nations – now, he dreams of securing an Ireland call-up.
The 24-year-old fly-half is preparing for the new season as an Ulster player, having made the switch from English outfit Gloucester, a move that he hopes will catch the attention of Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt.
The Ulster new-boy may be Irish qualified but was born in Bath and represented England at both Under-18 and Under-20 level, appearing in the 2014 Under-20 Six Nations – his elder brother Freddie is also a full England international.
If all goes to plan, the pair may well come up against each other someday and Burns is in awe of his new surroundings.
“With my Irish qualification and ambition to play for Ireland in the future, Ulster came in with the interest and when you get interest from a club like Ulster, with the exciting squad that they’ve got and the exciting coaching staff that they’re assembling, it was just an opportunity I couldn’t turn down,” he said.
“It’s been awesome to get over and have a look around the stadium.
“It’s a hell of a facility and it just makes that move even more exciting now.
“I’m massively excited about it. I’m looking forward to getting stuck in with the boys and cracking on with the hard work.
“I think I’ll be in next week, hopefully. Hopefully, the sooner the better; I can get in with the guys and hopefully start contributing to the squad.”
Johnny Sexton and Joey Carbery are some of the big names currently competing for the Ireland fly-half berth but Burns, who has penned a two-year deal at Kingspan, will bid to join the mix.
Ulster’s operations director Bryn Cunningham said: “Being Irish-qualified, we have no doubt that Billy has the potential to represent Ireland in the near future.
“It has not been an easy process to find someone with the requisite abilities to add real value to our squad for this season but thankfully, we’ve come to an agreement with Gloucester and have been able to bring Billy across.”
