Burnham 34 Teignmouth 29

BURNHAM climbed to the top of the table with a hard-fought 34-29 win against Teignmouth on Saturday.

Tries from Hayden Tuttiett, Matt Love, Tim Piper (2), and a penalty try, sealed the points for Burnham, who trailed 22-13 at half-time.

Burnham started the better of the two sides, and after five minutes of probing and following three successful phases in the middle of the pitch Tuttiett gathered his own kick to race in at the corner.

Burnham scored their second try 15 minutes later when Piper’s astute cross-kick sat up nicely for Love to gather, brush aside the full-back and score in the corner.

Both sides added three further points with successful penalties, but Teignmouth then moved up a gear into their most emphatic period of the game, unfortunately assisted by some poor defensive work.

They rattled up three tries by half-time, two of which were converted.

Burnham’s forwards coach had some stern and sound advice to offer at half-time, which his players obviously took on board, replying with three tries of their own, all converted by Piper.

Firstly, after a series of scrums that Teignmouth transgressed, the referee awarded Burnham a penalty try.

Not to be outdone, Piper then got in on the act as he dummied his way through the Teignmouth defence following a good pass from Tuttiett.

Six minutes later, Tuttiett produced an almost carbon-copy pass to Piper to again break the line and touch down.

However, Teignmouth were not finished yet and deep into injury time produced a fine try to jangle the Burnham faithful’s nerves.

Burnham stood firm to take the win in an enthralling game of rugby.

Burnham’s next match is away to Wellington on Saturday, October 19 – kick-off 3pm.