Billy Burns has been hailed as one of Dan McFarland’s unsung heroes ahead of Saturday’s United Rugby Championship semi-final with the Stormers in South Africa.
Several Ulster stars, including the irrepressible James Hume, Michael Lowry, Stuart McCloskey and Nick Timoney, have grabbed the headlines at various stages of the season.
But assistant coach Dan Soper believes Burns is a crucial cog in the machine and has been an influential reason behind Ulster’s exciting back play in recent months.
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“When we’re going well, generally Bill is on top of things,” said Soper of the 27-year-old out-half. “He has a huge amount of input into what we’re trying to do.
“The players also have a lot of trust in him and the guys around him and outside him, you’ve got some nice combinations there and they all work well together.
“Some of the outside backs and midfielders have been in brilliant form and have got a lot of kudos but I think they’d all agree that Bill is putting them in good places to do that.
“Bill being Bill he’s quite happy to let them take the limelight. He just keeps doing what he does and keeps the ship moving forward.”
Burns, who joined Ulster from Gloucester in 2018, has been an almost ever-present this season, playing in 23 of the province’s 25 games in all competitions.
No other player in the backs has made more appearances this season, with lock Alan O’Connor and dynamic flanker Timoney also lining out 23 times in the pack.
“You’ve only got to look at how much Bill has played this year,” said Soper.
“Credit to him and the performance staff who got him in a place where he’s been able to churn out a lot of rugby.
“He has made it very difficult for the likes of Mads (Ian Madigan) to get their opportunities because he’s so integral to what we do.”
Soper revealed Burns also played a key role in returning Ulster’s young players to terra firma after last week’s thumping quarter-final win over Munster.
A five-try win at the Kingspan Stadium teed up this week’s last-four clash with the Stormers, with Leinster or the Bulls lying in wait in the final later this month.
“Billy made a really good point, yes it was a good performance (against Munster) but it doesn’t mean you sit back and fall in love with yourself,” said Soper.
“It was really good to hear the senior players driving that message that we want to go again. Yes, it was a good performance, but it wasn’t perfect.
“If you aspire to win a competition like this, you need to be able to produce a big, big performance three weeks in a row (in the play-offs).
“We want to be better than last week so that can’t be the peak because we want to go above that. Ultimately, we want to keep getting better week on week.”
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