‘We still have plenty left in the tank’ – Burns braced for Munster challenge – The42
WHEN HE WAS left out of Irelands squad for the Six Nations in January, Ulster out-half Billy Burns was brutally honest when asked to reflect on losing his place in the international set-up.
I was disappointed but I probably dont warrant my selection at the moment, he told BBC Sport Northern Ireland in early February. Im still trying to get that consistency week on week, to back up my performances.
Since then hes got the consistency part right, starting all but two of Ulsters games from the start of the Six Nations to the present day and leading the line against the likes of Leinster and Toulouse, and then in big United Rugby Championship games against Edinburgh and the Cell C Sharks.
Burns form played a big part in helping the province secure a home quarter-final in the URC tonight against Munster [KO 7.35pm, live on Premier Sports 2, TG4] and, despite the temptation to move Mike Lowry to stand-off or bring in the experience of Ian Madigan, it has been the former Gloucester man who has been consistently relied upon by head coach Dan McFarland.
Whether Andy Farrell has seen enough to bring him back into the Ireland fold for the upcoming tour of New Zealand is yet to be seen, but he has surely done enough to at least warrant being back in the conversation. But impressing the national coach isnt the main goal for Burns himself, hes only interested in the man in the mirror.
Personally Ive been really happy this year Ive been able to put back-to-back performances in, says the 27-year-old.
Thats been a real issue since I came to the club in terms of picking up little injuries, but this year is the first year where Ive been able to play 80 minutes in games as much as I can. From doing that, Im more comfortable on the pitch, I feel like Im seeing pictures on pitch quicker and being able to react quicker.
In terms of my form, yeah, Im doing okay. Im hard on myself, Im my own harshest critic, but I just focus on doing my job to the best of my ability and getting results at the weekend. I feel Im in a good position but theres still definitely room for improvement.
Of course, given the nature of tonights game being an inter-pro and with someone who will be competing with him for a place on that plane opposing him in Joey Carbery, the usual head-to-head storyline is rolled out. But, once again, thats something that Burns is not concerning himself with.
Joeys someone Ive worked with a lot in Ireland camp and learned a lot off. I think hes a great player. But I tend not to look much into playing for international spots because its probably an added pressure I dont need. I put enough pressure on myself to perform well, he adds.
So, with the pressure taken off the individual battle, the focus shifts to the war as a whole and the fight to make it into the URC semi-finals at Kingspan Stadium this evening, with neither side willing to see their seasons end in the first week of June.
For Ulster, the fear that both their domestic and European campaigns could come to an end on home soil is a very real one. After being beaten by Toulouse in Belfast, which knocked them out of the Heineken Champions Cup at the last-16 stage, there is a powerful motivating factor for them not to do likewise in the URC.
Ulster take on Munster in Belfast tonight. Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO
Understandably, drawing on that gut-wrenching disappointment against the French giants is at the forefront of the mind this week and making sure they dont repeat that feat against their southern cousins. Fortunately, there is plenty they can use.
I genuinely feel like we prepared well for that game. Weve got a lot of guys who have been around the squad for a long time and we all know you dont get these knockout games at home very often. We didnt handle the occasion well, I think we went into our shell a bit in that second leg and that might have punished us late in that second game, recalls Burns.
We learned a lot. There were a few things that didnt go our way on the night. Probably over the two legs, we didnt make the most of the period when they were down a man over there, we probably didnt build ourselves a big enough lead even though we backed ourselves to get the job done at home.
We learned huge amounts in terms of how we approach games. Win or lose, you learn something every week, but this is our first knockout game since then so well see if weve learned those lessons. Hopefully those hard lessons weve learned, as hard as they were, we can turn those learnings into a good result.
A good result would set up a semi-final away to either the DHL Stormers or Edinburgh, but first they need to overcome a Munster side that already have experience of triumphing at Kingspan Stadium having caught Ulster flat-footed after that Toulouse disappointment at the tail end of April.
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Indeed, at that time there were fears that Ulsters season could completely go off the rails and that they had simply run out of steam, but they recovered well with wins over Edinburgh and the Sharks, and Burns insists they are peaking at just the right time for a play-off run.
We still have plenty left in the tank, he maintains.
Our season has gone up and down a bit. We probably played our best rugby around Christmas-time and around the start of the New Year, and then we had a dip around when we went to South Africa. We learned a lot of lessons from those games, and obviously in Europe as well.
The Sharks game was nowhere near perfect but we were back on trend a bit, and we have to be at our best this weekend because theyre a top quality team.
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'We still have plenty left in the tank' - Burns braced for Munster challenge - The42