Western Counties W
Burnham-on-Sea 1st XV 12, St Austell 17

BURNHAM tarnished their recent home form in a game of two halves.

After weathering early pressure, Burnham worked their way down the pitch, eventually being rewarded with a penalty.

A great kick resulted in a lineout, after which a rolling maul was set up, enabling Brett Diver to claim the try.

Ten minutes later, McKechan collected from the base of a scrum, sold an outrageous dummy and made 30 metres before being caught.

Burnham recycled the ball and whipped down the line for Love to hurtle for the line, only to be stopped just short.

However, Burnham's support was swift and the ball was returned in the opposite direction out to Brandon Pettitt to evade two tackles and then round the full-back in the in-goal area to score closer to the posts.

Watkins converted to make the score 12-0.

What then happened is a mystery.

From being in the ascendancy, Burnham forgot all the methods that had worked; Watkins had a clearing kick charged down and a try resulted which was converted.

Next, Burnham gave away a needless penalty in front of posts to bring the scores to 12-10.

This was followed by constant handling errors, poor decision-making and a lack of cohesion which gave their opponents an opportunity.

After some smart handling and distribution they scored the winning points out wide.

Burnham had a chance in the final few minutes with a penalty five metres from the opposition line and, yet again, chose the wrong option.

Too many players took on the opposing pack instead of moving the ball out wide, while the two wingers, who are match winners, received the ball only six times between them for the entire match.

***

Somerset 2S
Bridgwater 3rd XV 14, Burnham-on-Sea 2nd XV 24

ON AN overcast day in Bridgwater, Burnham 2nds faced a strong side fielded by the orange, yellow and blacks.

As a mark of respect to the recent passing of Bridgwater club stalwart Jack Smith, a minute’s silence was held.

The game started with a flurry of exchanges between the sides, but it was Bridgwater that opened the scoring.

Following a driving maul their lock broke through to score in the corner, the try converted for 7-0.

Yet it was not long before Burnham retaliated with great exploitation of the blind side from chunky Will Conway to release Connor Howard.

Howard’s try was converted by Will Conway to draw the teams level.

And soon Howard was having an impact on the game again.

Following a penalty, captain Tim Piper set him off down the blind side, Howard engaged the after burners, and Piper kept pace with him to receive the pass back and finish off the move.

Will Conway added the extras to make give the away side the lead, 14-7.

Burnham had their tails up now and a trundle by big Barry deep into the Bridgwater half forced a penalty, kicked by Conway.

The rest of the half saw the home side pressing, but they could not cross as a resilient Burnham held strong to go in 17-7 ahead at half time.

Bridgwater made some changes and a spirited start by the hosts led to their centre finding a way through for their second try.

However, Burham knew that they were not going to win up front, and started moving around the forwards, setting up Ryan Beard to score under the posts.

Once again Conway made the score a seven-pointer for 24-14.

Both teams were inspired into action and some great exchanges took place, with Bridgwater reverting to type and trying to muscle their way through the middle.

Burnham had to really look to their D to secure this fixture, and after a counter attack only a foot in touch denied them a fourth try.

Bridgwater rallied yet they could not break through, and so Burnham secured a fantastic away result.

Their next game is an unofficial ‘Boxing Day Bash’ – Rusty Antlers v the World (ko... when everyone can get there!).