Freddie Burns last night told how he delivered his “Jonny Wilkinson moment” to kill fears that history would remember him as the Nearly Man.
Leicester’s back-up fly-half came off the bench to land the last-gasp drop goal which so dramatically won Tigers their first Premiership title for nine years.
“Every fly-half needs a Jonny Wilkinson moment, right!” he said, referring to the England legend’s World Cup-winning kick in 2003.
“I remember being 13, watching that. For it now to be me.. I’m all cried out.
“You sort of think, ‘ah, it’s not meant for you’ and ‘I’m almost like the nearly man again’.
“I didn’t want to be a player who never won it. I’ve worked so hard. I’ve had a pretty successful career compared to most, but you want to retire and look at a winner’s medal and a shirt you wore in a final."
Burns seemed set for great things when he broke into the national team a decade ago, helping England trounce New Zealand at Twickenham on his debut.
For one reason or another his international career never took off, the last of his five caps coming eight years ago.
“I’m probably being a bit hard on myself but you do think these moments have passed you by,” he said. “It’s the Marcus Smith’s, the George Ford’s, the Owen Farrell’s that get that.”
Which made it all the more surprising when he was chosen by organisers as the ‘face’ of Leicester on the poster alongside Farrell to promote Saturday’s Final.
“There were other players potentially in the club who could have been on it,” he smiled.
“The funny thing is people started tweeting me saying, 'What are you doing on this?' I was like, 'I think the same. I'm not going to slap my face on it, am I?'
“Funny, but I guess it ended up being on the money!”
Burns was only on the pitch because George Ford, Leicester’s playmaking star, had rolled his ankle in the 23rd minute.
As he was helped off the pitch with Saracens already ahead, nobody thought for one moment the man replacing him would become the matchwinner.
“I’ve always sat there quietly and backed my ability, my temperament and my mentality,” Burns said. “Hopefully this is a moment to sort of say ‘eh, come on. I can still do it in the big moment when it matters’.
“It’s a big f**k you to some people who wrote me off, if I’m being honest.”
Saracens could have no complaints having lost the try count 2-0 and failed to take advantage of an extra-man before Burns swung his right leg with 21 seconds left on the clock.
“I made noises after I hit it that I’ve never heard come out of my mouth before,” he laughed. “It was like a dead duck going over, but I really don’t care.”
After so long languishing in the doldrums nor did anybody else from England’s biggest, and now happiest, club.
SARACENS - Pens: Farrell 3, Daly.
LEICESTER - Tries: Liebenberg, Wiese. Con: Burns. Drop: Burns
