Western Counties West
Tiverton 14, Burnham-on-Sea 12

BURNHAM 1st XV, disappointingly, lost a match they could have and should have won – and they remain hovering over the dropzone, writes John Piper.

Too many handling errors, poor decision making and lack of communication cost them the match in a very muddy encounter at Tiverton’s Coronation Field.

Scrummaging was good, as was the lineout, but subsequent mauls were lost because of poor support for the ball carrier.

Tiverton, who had lost their last two games before the Christmas break, were first on the scoreboard with two well-taken penalties from Jimmy Atkins.

Burnham responded strongly, however, as they progressed from a penalty lineout into a constructive maul, with Brett Diver spurting onto a pop-up pass and diving over the line for an unconverted try that made it 6-5 at half time.

Twenty minutes into the second half Burnham showed what they could do after opting for a scrum five metres out.

From there they pushed Tiverton back, then two phases later Kiwi Richard Muskett took the crash ball to cross the line.

Josh Holder converted for 12-6, and suddenly a first away win of the season for Burnham looked a real possibility.

Unfortunately the visitors did not go on from this and a series of errors allowed Tiverton back into the game, firstly through another penalty goal from Atkins.

Then Burnham were caught with the ball, giving Tiverton the opportunity to kick deep into the visitors’ territory, with their left winger James Newman winning the race to make it 14-12.

There was still time for Burnham to earn an opportunity snatch the win, but a penalty chance from around 45 metres out fell well short of the posts, and the home side celebrated a win which put eight points between the sides in the Western Counties West table.

Burnham know that they must tighten up on the basic mistakes which are costing them dear as, when they put their mind to it, they tend to be the better side.

Defeat means that Burnham remain 11th on 26 points, only four ahead of 12th-placed Crediton, and seven clear of the bottom two, Wellington and Bude.

There was better news for Burnham Colts, who claimed a 31-10 cup victory away to Weston-super-Mare U17s after a superb performance.