Freddie Burns returns to Leicester Tigers as kicking coach after retirement
The man who kicked Leicester Tigers to the 2022 Premiership title is back at the club — this time as a coach.
Freddie Burns, whose last-minute drop-goal against Saracens sealed the trophy at Twickenham, has been appointed as the Tigers' new kicking coach. He replaces Alex Davies, who left to join Wales' coaching staff. Burns will work with kickers across both the first-team squad and the academy, operating under head coach Geoff Parling — a former team-mate from his playing days at Welford Road.
Parling said: "We're excited for Fred to start his full-time coaching career with us."
The move into coaching came just three weeks after Burns announced his retirement from professional playing. His career arc was nothing if not varied: he began with Gloucester in 2007, earned five England caps between 2012 and 2014, and had two spells with Leicester sandwiched around stints at Bath, in New Zealand and in Japan. He finished his playing days as a player-coach in Romania with Dinamo Bucuresti.
Burns had left Leicester in February 2023, agreeing to an early release from his contract to take up an opportunity with the Highlanders in Super Rugby (Leicester Tigers). He had originally returned to the Tigers ahead of the 2021-22 season, a homecoming that culminated in that title-winning campaign (Leicester Tigers).
For Tigers supporters, the nostalgia is obvious. Burns is the man whose boot delivered the club's last Premiership crown — a 15-12 win over Saracens decided by his stoppage-time drop-goal, a struck ball that barely cleared the crossbar but cleared it nonetheless. Since that day, the club has been chasing a repeat: they reached the final in 2025 and made it to the semi-final stage in the 2025-26 season.
Burns spoke of his attachment to the club on his return. "It's a club I care deeply about and I'm excited to help try and get the best out of this group that has huge potential," he said (BBC Sport).
A kicking coach's work is quietly pivotal. In professional rugby union, matches at the highest level are frequently decided by margins smaller than a converted try — seven points. Goal-kicking accuracy and tactical kicking for field position can be the difference between a title and a near-miss. Burns brings a fly-half's instincts and nearly two decades of professional experience to a role that demands precision and composure under pressure.
Parling, who took over as head coach, knows Burns' character from sharing a dressing room. That familiarity should ease the transition from player to full-time coach — a jump many find steeper than expected, however long they spent reading the game from the pitch.
For a club that has been close but not quite there since 2022, the return of a title-winner to the coaching staff carries a certain symbolism. Whether Burns can help the current generation finish the job is a question only next season will answer.
