Firsts & Lasts: Gill Burns
The latest in our series speaking to former England captains, see Gill Burns recall her first and last Test as skipper.
Gill Burns is synonymous with the rise of women’s rugby.
A rugby legend, whose name was incorporated into the title of the women’s county competition, alongside Bill Beaumont’s for the men’s, Gill’s outstanding athleticism and advocacy for women’s rugby earned her huge respect and an MBE for services to the sport.
She represented British Colleges at hockey, basketball, swimming and athletics and held teaching qualifications in tap, ballet and modern dance. When she legitimately took out an opposition hockey player on her way to scoring in a match, her opposing number insisted Gill should take up rugby with her team. Gill did and went on to establish Waterloo Ladies in 1989, playing for them over 250 times until 2013.
Her international debut came in 1988, soon after she took up rugby as a young PE teacher at the start of her career. It was against Sweden, hosted at Waterloo, a game she also organised to help promote women’s rugby in the north. A 14-year international career which lasted until 2002 then saw her winning 73 caps for her country, a record at that time, scoring 34 tries and amassing 236 points.
Gill won two caps for Great Britain and two as the World XV Captain, as well as five England Sevens caps, and representing the North. She played in four Women’s Rugby World Cups, including the 38-23 victory over USA in 1994, the first time England won the tournament.
She captained her country between 1994 and 1999, was President of the then Rugby Football Union for Women for a decade. She is currently President of Lancashire, Vice President of the Anti-Assassins, former President of Waterloo Rugby Club and is Vice Chair of women’s rugby at Firwood Waterloo.
Stephen Jones writing in The Sunday Times in 1996 described Burns as “in every respect, a genuine, 24-carat English sporting heroine.”
First: England 66-0 Russia at Galashiels in the 1994 World Cup
“At the start, I joined a group of Liverpool Poly girls training at Waterloo. Most of the girls were not much more than five feet tall and they liked the look of someone who was nearly six foot. As soon as I picked up a ball I knew I’d found the sport for me. Rugby is such a wonderful game.
“I went to some North trials at Leeds to gain experience and the coach asked me what position I played. I replied with ‘I’ve only ever played number 8’, little did he know I’d only played two games at that point. It helped that I was big, fast and powerful. A shot putter and a sprinter who could run 100m in 12.1 seconds. In those days the athletes who were selected all came from other sports and we learned the skills once we were in the squad.
“I was on my 19th England cap for the Russia game in the ‘94 World Cup and we’d been finalists in the 1991 tournament. Karen Almond was our captain, an amazing fly half and world-class player. She would still earn a place in my all-time England XV, and as captain of it.
“I had played in every England game since my debut in 1988 but had been rested for the Scotland game which was so frustrating as I wasn’t used to sitting on the bench. In those days once you were picked, and played well, your place was secure until someone came along who was better – some players sat on the bench dozens of times and never got on the pitch so I soon learnt that everyone in the squad was vital if we were to succeed. Steve Dowling, the coach cleverly used the full squad to great effect. Karen was being rested for the match against Russia so that was when I was asked to captain the side for the first time.
“Jim Greenwood had been England Women’s first ever coach, and he’d handed over to Steve Dowling, with Steve Peters and Steve Jew as his assistants. The squad had grown in strength between 1991 and ‘94, there was dramatic development at the time as the multi-talented sports women involved learned more about the wonderful game. The coaches said we were like sponges desperate to soak up all the knowledge we could to improve. We’d started to have proper structure and by ‘94 were more technical, more tactical.
Speaking Russian after the match
“Steve Dowling told me he wanted me to captain the game. I’d never even let that prospect cross my mind and I couldn’t believe he’d asked me. I was blown away, hugely honoured. I thought it would be polite to speak some Russian for my after-match speech and phoned a Russian speaking friend of Emma Mitchell who explained phonetically how to manage a short speech, whether we won or lost.
“I’d prepared a pre-match team talk but once I started it went out of the window because I was talking from the heart. Seeing people around me, who’d shared pain and emotion, seeing tears in the eyes of the hardest nuts, I could see they cared as much as I did. Everyone was switched on and it was ‘Right, let’s go.’
“We won 66-0. I tried to lead by example and scored two tries and there was a mix of experienced and new players to the international fold in the side. I remember Kathy Jenn was relentless in the back row and Charlie Bronks, a smiley prop, beamed throughout the match as we dominated the scrums. There comes a point where you know if nobody does anything silly you should have it in the bag but we had to keep focussed. I had to keep reminding myself I was captain, that it was me who had to talk to the ref, and to help keep my team mates in the zone.
“After the match I don’t know what I actually said in my attempt to do a speech in Russian but they laughed and laughed and their coach came up and forced a shot of vodka down my throat before pouring more vodka down our poor coach Steve’s throat. I’ve often wondered if Emma’s friend stitched me up with regard to the translation, but it made people happy and that’s the most important thing.
“My mum and dad were always at my matches, dad had played schoolboy rugby to a high standard, and they loved following us all around Europe. They were camping that year in Musselburgh in a little two-man tent in the freezing cold, while we were staying in luxury at the George Hotel. Their support was fantastic and I wouldn’t have been able to afford to play at that level without their help. We funded everything ourselves but we wanted to stay at the same hotel that the men’s sevens team had stayed in when they won the World Cup Sevens the previous year. If it was good enough for Harriman, Dallaglio and Hopley et al then it was good enough for us. Thanks Mum and Dad.”
Last: England 13- 8 France at Worcester in the 1999 Five Nations
“We’d had some very close games against France in that era. They were a good side and it was the biggest game, the biggest challenge of the season.
“I remember at one point we needed a penalty. Our fly half didn’t have the distance so I needed to have a go and lined up a long-distance, toe-end kick. Pressure for place kicks didn’t get to me in those days as it felt exactly the same as when you practice it over and over again at training. I put the ball down, knelt down in front, lined up the seams. I had a routine, I’d visualise the route of the ball, stand up, the same number of steps back, visualise the trajectory of the ball again, then use the same approach, the same toe poke. It was an extra in our ammunition, as having the option for long-range pop at goal stopped teams like France and Wales killing the ball to slow the game down.
“Unfortunately, I remember my last match as captain mostly because it was a sad occasion for me. I had planned to finish my tenure as captain after we had secured our third consecutive Grand Slam and then hopefully finish on a high at the European Championships in Belluno at the end of the season. I had planned to stand down after we had won both. Unfortunately, the game at Worcester was to be my last as captain as I wrote my letter of resignation that night.
A sad departure
We’d had three good wins, had convincingly beaten Ireland and Wales and were on the way to the Grand Slam. I was totally unaware that both coaches were to be sacked straight after the France game, at the post-match dinner. I was embarrassed as captain and having not been included in any discussions regarding the coaching team so I felt I had to resign on principle. It was a sad departure, the way it was done, the way they were treated. The disruption at this stage of the season was not ideal.
“I’m not bitter because I suppose the RFUW Committee did it for what they thought were the right reasons at the time but I knew I had to resign. I continued my involvement and commitment to England rugby. After the previous year’s World Cup campaign, when I got a bad injury in the quarter-final which ended my tournament, I felt there was still a job to be done and that I should serve one more season as captain. That wasn’t to be so I just continued as a player and enjoyed our final win against Wales although the disruption meant we did not play well at the Europeans later that season.
“The highlight of my career was captaining my country, what a tremendous honour. I enjoyed great relationships with many of the referees and am still friends with some. I cherished every moment as captain, something I never would have dreamt of happening to me. I knew I was a good player but I didn’t quite know how good other people thought I was until I got the arm band, though getting the captaincy didn’t stop me trying to improve, I always felt I could be better. On the pitch it felt so right though, at times I felt invincible. If only I could move like that now.
Gill Burns Cup
“When they named the Women's County Championship the Gill Burns Cup it was totally humbling. I always tried my best to do a good job on and off the pitch. It is a huge honour to have my playing ability, leadership, commitment and dedication recognised in this way. I finished my 32-year teaching career in 2018 but I now make cushions out of old rugby kit. One of my first commissions was when I was sent a Yorkshire county championship winning shirt and when I saw my name emblazoned underneath the county badge it brought a tear to my eye.
“The progress of women’s rugby has been amazing, all because of each of those little steps that’d been taken gradually over the last 35 years. The brilliant work done by the RFUW and RFU staff plus the Committee and Board members and volunteers and plenty who, like me, only ever had rugby as a hobby alongside their full time jobs, we owe a lot of thanks. There are so many women and girls playing now, a bigger playing pool means a better standard. It’s just going to get bigger and bigger and I’m thankful for everyone who has done their bit over the years.
“As a PE teacher I was determined to offer equal opportunities. I introduced boys to dance using cool themes like ‘James Bond’ and ‘Grandstand’. I also did cricket, basketball and football for the girls and very much enjoyed introducing rugby once I’d started playing myself. All games that the girls hadn’t had the chance to try before. Claire Rive, Holly Aitchison and Sarah Beckett are all ex Range High School pupils of mine who’ve gone on to gain international honours in rugby.
“My mum was a dancing teacher, until she retired 20 years ago, and although she’s now 83 we’ve been entertaining the dementia groups that we support, providing a Friday song and dance on Facebook and YouTube during lockdown. My mum is still very graceful, though I’m not sure about me, but at least I never played rugby like a dancer.”
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