Heart-blow Lloyd Burns set to land job with WRU

Wales World Cup hooker Lloyd Burns is in talks over a new career five months after being forced into premature retirement with a heart condition.
Following preliminary discussions with the WRU, the 27-year-old bricklayer hopes to be given the go-ahead to reinvent himself in a non-playing capacity.   He is due to meet Joe Lydon within the next fortnight in his capacity as the Union’s head of Rugby Performance and Development.
Burns spoke about the future in his first interview since the traumatic end of his fairytale transformation from Cross Keys part-timer to World Cup duty in six of Wales’ seven matches at the World Cup in New Zealand last year.
“I am talking to the WRU and hoping I can stay in the game in some capacity,” he said.  “I want to be involved with rugby for a few more years because I believe I have a lot to offer.
“I’ve had one or two meetings discussing alternative avenues of employment in the coaching and development of young players. I hope to be taking things further in a couple of weeks and, fingers crossed, they may be able to come up with a full-time role.”
Burns was working on building sites and playing part-time for Cross Keys until two years ago when the Newport Gwent Dragons offered him a full-time contract at the comparatively late age of 25. In a matter of months last year he jumped out of the Pro12 supporting cast into the final stages of the World Cup.
Burns had played himself into the Wales squad before injury forced Ospreys hooker Richard Hibbard to miss the trip along with Scarlets‘ captain Matthew Rees. In New Zealand, Burns rapidly established himself in the pecking order behind Huw Bennett.
Wales picked the Dragons hooker in their 23 for all but one of the seven ties ending with his appearance in the third-place decider against Australia.
Burns had been troubled by neck damage and in early January, his regional employers revealed he would be out for “at least three months”. In April, the Dragons issued a statement expressing their “massive shock” that Burns would not be able to play again because of a heart condition.
Burns, who has been told he will need surgery, said:  “I’d prefer to be putting my boots back on but I’ve been told I dare not take the risk. I’ve got to avoid lifting heavy weights and any contact.
“A bang on the chest would not be very good. In a perfect world there would be a very slim possibility of coming back after surgery. I don’t think that will happen but you have to cling onto something.”
PETER JACKSON