Freddie Burns won his first Premiership title since starting his career in the English top class 13 years ago
Freddie Burns says he made his childhood dream come true by kicking Leicester to the 11th Premiership title with a last-minute goal against the Saracens.
The 32-year-old former Englishman, who has played more than 200 games in the Premiership, won 15-12 in his first appearance in the event.
He came off the bench in the final as a replacement for the injured George Ford.
“At the age of five, I had two goals – to play for my country and win the Premiership,” Burns said.
“Winning the Premiership is special, but winning it at this club with this group of players means more than anything.”
Burns returned from a stay in Japan to rejoin the Tigers this season after playing 75 games for the East Midlands between 2014 and 2017.
He told BBC Radio Leicester that he feared he had missed a chance to score earlier and admitted that it would look as if the Tigers were “dead and buried” when Owen Farrell took a late penalty to tied the score at 12-12 against 14- man Leicester, who caused Matt Scott to be destroyed four minutes after the end.
“We are always in the fight,” Burns continued. “We are never dead – we have shown this over and over again.”
Tigers winger Chris Ashton praised Burns for “taking his chance when he came in” in difficult circumstances, as a replacement for the influential Ford, who scored 22 points a week earlier in his 27-14 semi-final victory over Northampton.
“That’s how good a player he is,” Ashton told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“This week he was actually telling me about a goal in Japan that he tried to win a game and missed completely, so who would have thought that today he would have a chance to win it for Leicester?”
Tigers head coach Bortwick, who watched Leicester rise to the top of the English game only during his second full season at Welford Road, hailed Burns as “phenomenal” after the Twickenham game.
“He is an amazing hero who has added a lot to the team on the field, but also off the field,” said Bortwick.
“We were suffocated”
Saracen boss Mark McCall congratulated the Tigers on a “phenomenal season” after leading the table at the end of each round of the regular season before continuing to win the final.
“They were the better team and they deserved to win the game,” McCall said.
“They trapped us in our half for a long time and backed it up with brilliant defense work. We were a little suffocated. We did not get the best of ourselves.
“We hope to be able to use the pain we will experience over the next few days in a constructive way to return stronger next summer.”
Jamie George, the prostitute of the defeated Saracens, admitted that the Tigers were the better side, but said he was disappointed with the way the defeat took place.
“It’s hard. It’s awful, really. We didn’t show up and that’s the most disappointing thing,” he said.
“Some of our big players didn’t show up,” George added.
The Englishman likened Leicester’s performance to the style his team used to great effect to win so many local and European awards.
“They play a very traditional style of rugby and when they overtake, they are really hard to win because they keep nailing you back, a bit like the Saracens of the past,” said George.
“We didn’t have an answer to that question today, and that’s disappointing.”
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