Young Guns: Jordan Burns – Harlequins scrum-half

Harlequins‘ stable of wings is so well stocked that the fastest man in their Sevens side, Jordan Burns, is being groomed as a scrum-half in the XVs game.
Burns’ pace, as well as his name, mark him out as a winger to watch out for but with the hulking frames of Ugo Monye and Seb Stegmann vying for one wing spot and Tom Williams and Sam Smith for another, Quins believe the 18-year-old’s talents would be best employed elsewhere.
The decision means Burns will have to start his half-back apprenticeship almost from scratch having previously played at outside-centre for his school Epsom College, as well as on the wing.
But Quins’ brains trust will be praying that Burns can still engineer enough space from No. 9 to use his speed as his track record, as well as his track times, are devastating.
At a school athletics meet last summer he broke Epsom’s 100m record on grass with a time of 10.8sec and earlier this year in March he seamlessly translated that into tries for England U18 Clubs and Schools, touching down four times against Northampton Saints Academy in a 36-29 loss.
But Burns insists he’s happy with his positional switch to the heart of the action.
“I was an outside centre at school, but I recently changed from wing to scrum-half because of my height and I’m building it up to get game time and experience.
“Henry Taylor is one of my competitors at scrum-half in the academy but we’re still really good mates and we live in a house with a few others in Guildford. This year’s going to be a big step up for all of us. The physicality is going to be huge.
“My aim is to play for the first team once, I just want one game for them.”
Quins supporters got their first glimpse of Burns in the JP Morgan 7s tournament at the Stoop last Friday night.
Although he didn’t cross the whitewash, he showed his opponents a clean pair of heels on two occasions and caught the eye of the home fans.
“It was really weird having people wanting your signature,” he said.
“It’s my first year at Harlequins and so far it’s been great fun. The Sevens were a great experience, playing with the likes of Ross Chisholm and Luke Wallace.
“They play in the Premiership, it’s my first year and already I’ve played with them, it’s great.”
With two seasoned 9s ahead of him in Danny Care and Karl Dickson, it may be a while before Burns plays again at The Stoop.
However, assistant first-team coach and former academy manager Collin Osborne believes Burns can become a No.9 very much in the mould of Care.
“With his physical attributes that’s where he is best suited in the long term,” he said.
“The way the game is played now all the players are getting bigger and bigger, especially the wingers.
“What he has got is phenomenal pace and that’s one attribute you need to do real damage as a scrum-half like Danny Care.
“If you watch Danny or Ben Youngs, what defenders hate, especially big men around the edge of a ruck, is getting a guy with pace and great feet running at you.
“Jordan’s acceleration off the mark would put the fear of God into defenders. He has got terrific pace and can beat a man on a sixpence.”