Billy Sean Burns (born 13 June 1994) is a professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player who plays for

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. His favoured position is fly-half. He is the younger brother of England rugby union team fly-half

Freddie Burns Freddie Spencer Burns (born 13 May 1990) is an English professional rugby union player who plays fly-half for Super Rugby side . Burns played over 100 times for Gloucester between 2007–2014, and over 100 times for Leicester Tigers across tw ...

. Born in England, Burns represented England for youth rugby union teams, before choosing to represent

at the

2020 Six Nations Championship The 2020 Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) was the 21st Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland ...

Early life and family

Burns was born and raised in

Bath, Somerset Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, ...

, the youngest of four sons of Jerry Burns, the director of a plumbing company, and his wife Donna. He attended Beechen Cliff School where he first started playing rugby union, and studied at

Hartpury College Hartpury University and Hartpury College, formerly Hartpury College, is a provider of further and higher education which describes itself as specialising in the "agriculture, animal, equine, sport and veterinary nursing" sectors. The university a ...

Club career

Gloucester

A product of

Gloucester Rugby Gloucester Rugby are a professional rugby union club based in the West Country city of Gloucester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby, as well as in the European Rugby Champions Cup. The club was formed i ...

's academy, Burns made his first team debut as a seventeen-year-old substitute in a loss to

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

in the LV Cup in February 2012. That year, he would also have success for the England Under 18 side, winning the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

held in Spain, scoring 7 points in the final against

which England won 25 – 13. He had two loan spells at

. In his first spell, in the 2012–13 season, he made 17 appearances in

National League 2 South National League 2 South (known before September 2009 as National Division Three South) was a level four league in the English rugby union system until the end of season 2021–22. It was one of two leagues at this level, with its counterpart, N ...

, scoring 71 points which included 6 tries, helping the club to 3rd place in the division. He also made several appearances for Gloucester that season in the LV Cup, and was part of the sevens side that won the

2013 Premiership Rugby Sevens Series The 2013 Premiership Rugby Sevens Series (styled for sponsorship reasons as the 2013 J.P Morgan Asset Management Premiership Rugby 7s Series) was the fourth Rugby Union Rugby sevens, 7-a-side competition for the twelve 2013–14 English Premiership ...

in the summer, scoring a conversion in the final victory against

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

. The following season he signed a new contract with Gloucester, and made debut appearances in the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

and

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

, but most of the season was spent back on loan at Hartpury College, helping the club to win the

2013–14 National League 2 South The 2013–14 National League 2 South was the fifth season (27th overall) of the fourth tier (south) of the English domestic rugby union competitions since the professionalised format of the second division was introduced. The league system wa ...

league title and promotion to National League 1, and being one of the league's top points scorers with 205 points. He was also called up by the England Under-20 team for the Six Nations. In the summer he played a key role in England Under-20s victory at the

2014 IRB Junior World Championship The 2014 IRB Junior World Championship was the seventh annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in Auckland, New Zealand by rugby's governing body, World Rugby, then known as the Internation ...

held in New Zealand, scoring 11 points as England triumphed 21 – 20 over South Africa in the final. The following season Burns got more game time at Gloucester, accumulating 17 appearances across all competitions and making the bench for the side that won the

2014–15 European Rugby Challenge Cup The 2014–15 European Rugby Challenge Cup was the first season of the European Rugby Challenge Cup, the annual rugby union competition. It is the 19th season of second tier pan-European club competition in general, as the competition replaces the ...

. In 2015–16 he made appearances at fly-half and full-back, before sustaining a knee injury against

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. T ...

in March 2016, which ended his season. He was Gloucester's first choice fly-half for the 2016–17 and 2017–18 seasons, but after the club signed

Danny Cipriani Danny Cipriani (; born 2 November 1987) is an English professional rugby union player currently unattached. He most recently played for Premiership Rugby side Bath and previously played for Gloucester, Sale Sharks and Wasps in the Premiership ...

, Burns asked to be released from the last year of his contract.

Ulster

Burns joined Ulster on a two-year contract in July 2018. Ulster were short of an experienced fly-half following the retirement of

Ian Humphreys Ian Humphreys (born 24 April 1982 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a retired Irish rugby union footballer, who played at fly-half for the Pro12 team Ulster Rugby and English sides Leicester Tigers and London Irish. He joined Ulster in 2008 fr ...

and the termination of

Paddy Jackson David Patrick Lindsay James "Paddy" Jackson (born 5 January 1992) is a professional rugby union player from Northern Ireland who plays for Gallagher Premiership side London Irish. He primarily plays at fly-half and previously played for Irish p ...

's contract. After

Christian Lealiifano Christian Leali'ifano (born 24 September 1987), is an Australian professional rugby player. He is of Samoan heritage, and his surname is spelled Leali'ifano when using Samoan diacritics. He currently plays for Moana Pasifika in the Super Rugb ...

's loan deal ended, Ulster's only recognised fly-half was Johnny McPhillips. Their attempt to sign

Elton Jantjies Elton Thomas Jantjies (born 1 August 1990) is a South African professional rugby union player for the South Africa national team, the in the Japan Rugby Football Union and the in the Currie Cup. Jantjies made his professional debut with the L ...

as a long-term replacement was blocked by the IRFU, who required them to sign an Irish-qualified player. Burns, who has an Irish grandfather, fit the bill.Gerry Thornley
"Sibling rivalry driving younger Ulster Burns to aim for next level"
''The Irish Times'', 20 January 2020 In the 2018–19 season Burns made 17 appearances in the Pro14, scoring 44 points,Billy Burns' profile
at Pro14Rugby and seven appearances in the Heineken Cup, scoring 10 points.Billy Burns' Heineken Cup profile
European Professional Club Rugby] In the 2019–20 Ulster Rugby season, 2019–20 season he made 9 appearances in the Pro14, scoring 19 points, and 7 appearances in the Heineken Cup, scoring 6 points. In November 2019, having established himself in the Ulster team and formed a strong half-back partnership with John Cooney, he agreed a renewed contract until June 2022. In

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

he made ten appearances and scored four tries, sharing time with former Ireland international

Ian Madigan Ian Madigan (born 21 March 1989) is an Irish professional rugby union player for Ulster. His primary position is at fly-half, although he can also play at centre and full-back. Club career Madigan made his senior debut for Leinster in a Celtic L ...

. He re-established himself as first choice in the 2021–22 season, playing almost every game.

International career

Burns is Irish-qualified by virtue of his paternal grandfather, Tommy, who was born in Dublin. He received his first cap in a victory against Wales in the 2020

Autumn Nations Cup The Autumn Nations Cup was a rugby union competition held in November and December 2020 in place of the usual Autumn internationals series typically held in the same period each year, as many teams were avoiding extended travel due to the COVID- ...

, coming off the bench to replace an injured

Johnny Sexton Jonathan Jeremiah Sexton (born 11 July 1985) is an Irish rugby union player who plays as a fly-half for Leinster Rugby and Ireland, and he also captains both teams. He represented the British & Irish Lions in both 2013 and 2017 and has scored o ...

in the first half, only to be taken off for a head injury assessment in the second. He made a second substitute appearance in a defeat against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, replacing

Ross Byrne Ross Byrne is an Irish rugby union player. He plays as fly-half. Byrne currently plays for Irish provincial team Leinster. On 24 October 2018, Byrne was named in the Ireland squad for the November Internationals. In November 2022 Byrne kicked ...

, before making his first international start and scoring his first international try in a win against Georgia. He was named in the Ireland squad for the

2021 Six Nations The 2021 Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) was the 22nd Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, ...

tournament and came on as a replacement in the 21–16 defeat to

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

at the

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rug ...

. In the dying moments of the game he attempted to kick a penalty to touch, which could have given Ireland a chance to score a potentially match-winning try from the resulting lineout, but kicked it dead, allowing Wales to hold on to win.

, the player he replaced, said "Sometimes you miss and sometimes you get it and you're the hero but he had to go for it." Burns started the following match, a narrow defeat against France, appeared as a replacement in the following win against Italy, and was an unused substitute in the win against Scotland."Scotland 24–27 Ireland"
Scottish Rugby, 14 March 2021

Club honours

Gloucester *

Premiership Rugby Sevens Series The Premiership Rugby Sevens Series is a friendly Rugby Sevens competition for the twelve Premiership Rugby clubs that will play the following season (i.e. the 2010 competition features the teams playing in the Aviva Premiership in the 2010� ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

* European Rugby Challenge Cup winners: 2014–15 Hartpury College *

National Division Two South National League 2 South (known before September 2009 as National Division Three South) was a level four league in the English rugby union system until the end of season 2021–22. It was one of two leagues at this level, with its counterpart, N ...

champions: 2013–14

International honours

England (U18) * European U18 Championship winners: 2012 England (U20) * World Rugby Under 20 Championship winners:

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

References

External links

Ulster Rugby profileUnited Rugby Championship profile
*
Ireland profileGloucester profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Billy Living people 1994 births Rugby union players from Bath, Somerset Ireland international rugby union players English rugby union players Irish rugby union players English people of Irish descent Gloucester Rugby players Ulster Rugby players Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union fullbacks People educated at Beechen Cliff School Alumni of Hartpury College Hartpury University R.F.C. players