As Billy Burns awaited his moment to run out onto Southern Cross Group Stadium at Cronulla, it was the game the former Parkes junior didn’t expect to play.
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That game was the second test of the Australian School Boys’ clash with the English Under 19s touring side.
The side was initially selected from the teams that took part in the Australian Championships in July: NSW Combined Catholic Colleges – of which Burns was a member, NSW Combined High Schools, Independent High Schools, ACT, Northern Territory and South Australia.
A last minute phone call to Burns after a player from the original squad was injured following the first test in Brisbane, had him whisked to the National School Boys Camp on the Gold Coast the week before the second test on August 6.
“He was pretty excited, I don’t think he was as excited as I was...He looked very relaxed, he took it in his stride”
- Dad Scott Burns
Little did Burns realise he was a reserve for the side.
“They only ever named a 17-man side,” dad Scott Burns said.
“There’s never really been an injury before so they’ve called him in.
“He called [me after he received the call], he was pretty excited, I don’t think he was as excited as I was.”
Burns, playing as back-rower, was part of the starting side of the second test held in Cronulla following the Sharks and Canberra Raiders game.
Scott, who was there watching his son in his first match against an international side, said it was a very proud moment.
“He looked very relaxed, he took it in his stride,” he said.
“He had a powerful game and had a hand in the first try.”
Burns clocked up, according to his father, about 30-odd tackles and a couple of line breaks.
But his match ended abruptly with just 15 minutes remaining when Burns took a kick to the head.
Fearing Burns had suffered a fractured eye socket, officials sat him out for the rest of the game.
“He turned out fine,” Scott said.
Burns is also a member of the Under 20s Penrith Panthers, debuting for the side in June.
They’ve finished their 2016 season minor premiers.
Their NRL finals series began on September 10-11.
“He’s pretty comfortable,” Scott said.
“Nothing fazes him too much.”
Burns is a former Holy Family Primary School student and a Parkes Marist junior rugby league player.
