Somerset Cup

Burnham 25, Bath University 24

BURNHAM progressed to the next round of the cup with a hard fought victory over Bath University at The Pit.

Burnham’s forwards once again lived up to their strong set piece tag by constantly disrupting the Bath scrum and rolling maul.

Burnham took the lead through the boot of Tim Piper who knocked over a penalty, before the centre took an interception in midfield to race in under the posts.

The two sides traded penalties, before some loose tackling from Burnham allowed the Bath prop to power his way over from all of 30 metres.

With captain Russ Pike’s strong words under the posts, Burnham forced their way down into Baths half through a great bit of skill from the captain himself who collected a catch on halfway and immediately attacked the on rushing defence.

His collected his own delicate chip and took his team down up to the student’s five metre line.

From the resulting scrum, Burnham's powerful pack stormed over for Ross to collect the easiest of tries.

Bath again responded though and a well-worked try left the half-time score at 18-17.

The second half struggled to get firing as much as the first, with both sides making changes and the game opening up.

When Burnham managed to put some phases together they were able to show the brand of rugby they have been producing throughout the season.

A scrum on Bath’s line allowed the powerful forward pack to put the pressure on and earn a penalty try.

Bath hit back to score from a driving maul when Burnham were reduced to 14 men to set up a tense finish.

Burnham were relieved to see a late Bath penalty fall just short as the hosts held on for the win.