Relieved Freddie Burns reveals Toulouse calamity left him ‘in a dark place’

Sunday’s man-of-the-match display against Wasps was a far cry from Bath’s defeat by Toulouse in October when Burns missed to chances to win the game for his side

Freddie Burns scored 19 of Bath's 24 points in the win over Wasps (Getty)

Freddie Burns has revealed that his man-of-the-match performance against Wasps on Sunday has helped bring him out of a “dark place”, following his well-documented try-scoring howler for Bath earlier this season.

The 28-year-old scored 19 points for Bath as they beat Wasps 24-14 in front of a record Christmas crowd at the Ricoh Arena, with the weekend attendance of 31,626 fewer than 400 off the existing record set in May 2015.

What the stands filled to the brim in Coventry, Burns would’ve been forgiven for going into his shell given what has gone before this season. The last time all eyes were on former England fly-half Burns, he made two match-defining errors in Bath’s 22-20 Heineken Champions Cup defeat against Toulouse in October.

With a penalty kick to win the match, Burns missed from in front of the posts, before seeing redemption slip through his grasp when he broke through the line to score a try – only for a delay while celebrating allowing Toulouse full-back Maxime Medard to knock the ball free from his hands before it was grounded.

Burns described that moment as an “ultimate low”, and after turning in the brilliant individual performance against Wasps, he revealed just how badly that previous incident had affected him and the pleasing aspect of this showing to get the “monkey off his back”.

“You put a brave face on, front up,” Burns told BBC Radio Five Live. “I remember saying to (director of rugby) Todd (Blackadder) that I would just come into training and be my confident usual self.

“But really at home and before games it’s been a pretty dark place.”

The result keeps the Premiership wide open this season given that the battle for fourth and a place in the season-ending semi-finals can also be viewed as a relegation fight. Bath’s victory not only lifted them up to sixth – level on 23 points with Leicester Tigers – but moved them to within a point of fourth-placed Wasps and Harlequins in fifth.

Burns was left in a 'dark place' after the Toulouse defeat (Getty)

But beneath them, basement side Newcastle Falcons are still well within touching distance on 16 points, having suffered an agonising 20-17 defeat by Gloucester, who look to be pulling away in third along with Exeter Chiefs and Saracens.

With nine clubs separated by just eight points, the festive fixtures next weekend are more unpredictable than ever before, with the majority of clubs facing the likely decision to abandon their European campaigns in order to focus on the Premiership and top-flight safety.

For Bath, they join Wasps facing a Pool 1 exit, meaning that both will surely rotate for their remaining games against Toulouse and Leinster respectively as well as their own head-to-head. Yet as Burns points out, the sacrifice is not building the type of consistency that could well prove the difference for those team, with momentum potentially giving them a win here, a bonus point there, to pull them away from the relegation scrap.

“We’ve had a couple of bad losses and a couple of draws at home so confidence was a bit low,” Burns added. “Our performances have been inconsistent and we realise we are in a position in the league where if we don’t start winning we’ll find ourselves in no man’s land or in a relegation battle.

“Hopefully now we can kick on.”