Burns featured 20 times for Gloucester and picked up the Young Player of the Season accolade at Kingsholm. Not bad for a player who started the campaign under a cloud after surgery on both calves and lined up for a loan spell in the Championship.
He also made three appearances for England in the Under 20 RBS 6 Nations and was part of a goalkicking unit - with Rory Clegg (Harlequins) and Tom Homer (London Irish) - that missed just one of 29 shots at the posts.
"The season really finished on a high for me at Gloucester so I'm hoping to take the confidence I picked up there and the skills I've learned into the England side," said Burns.
"I was surprised to play so much this season and at the end when Olly Morgan was injured I got seven or eight starts on the bounce which is massive. At the beginning of the year I was looking at going on a loan spell at Moseley, then Carlos Spencer picked up a knock and I got some time coming off the bench and slipped in there.
"I didn't play too well in the Six Nations but I've bounced back strongly and I hope the last couple of months have benefited me. Playing for the Under 20s is different to playing for your club in as much as you're a young lad appearing in the Premiership and maybe not too much is expected of you, whereas with England you're in the spotlight trying to make things happen and everyone's watching you."
England are second seeds after defeats in the last two finals against New Zealand in a global event that is a finishing school for the world's best young players.
Leicester's Ben Youngs and Northampton's Courtney Lawes both appeared in the 44-28 defeat against the Baby Blacks in Tokyo last summer before being fast tracked into Martin Johnson's senior squad, while the likes of Zac Guildford (New Zealand), Mathieu Bastareaud (France), Leigh Halfpenny (Wales) and David Pocock (Australia) all appeared in the 2008 tournament.
Burns believes England have the wide range of talent in their squad, which includes Gloucester prop Shaun Knight, to challenge again. It starts against Argentina (June 5), Ireland (June 9) and France (June 13) in the pool stages before knock-out rounds on June 17 and 21.
"Argentina will be a massive test but we're a dynamic, strong side and our fitness levels are excellent," said Burns. "From one to 26 in the squad everyone's capable of doing something really special and that makes us a dangerous team.
"We've improved throughout the season and we attack in lots of different ways. Sides should never know what we're going to do next. We've got players all over the field who can make an impact and that might mean runners out wide but it also means the forwards passing and offloading.
"We're in good shape and our final warm-up game against Loughborough [29-11] was important. I hadn't played for England since the loss to Ireland and Loughborough were no pushover so to put a convincing performance together was pleasing."
The attrition rate of five games in 17 days led England to replace injured full back Tom Catterick (Newcastle Falcons) with hooker/prop Rob Buchanan (Harlequins) last week, which may bring more gametime for Burns, who is battling with Clegg for a starting role at fly half.
He added: "There might be opportunities for me at 15 as well as at 10 particularly after the change to the squad with Rob Buchanan coming in.
"I see myself as a 10 and I'm going to Argentina to try and grab that jersey and start the big games, but if the coaches need me to play at 15 I'll be happy to do the best job I can there for my country."
Content courtesy of RFU.
