Somerset Premier

Burnham-on-Sea 25, Avon 19

BURNHAM-ON-SEA bounced back from their defeat at Wiveliscombe to record an excellent bonus-point victory against fellow high-fliers Avon on Saturday.

The Stags were first over the whitewash as quick ball found Eoghan Westoff, whose break was supported by Sam Lewis and the scrum-half touched down.

A break from Sam Chillingworth led to Burnham’s second try, which was scored and coverted by Tim Piper, and it was 17-0 when Ryan Beard dummied past his opposite number en route to scoring a terrific third try.

Avon’s fly-half went over to reduce the hosts’ lead to 17-7 at the break, but Burnham put further daylight between the sides with their bonus-point try early in the second half through Chillingworth.

Avon took advantage of Westoff being sent to the sin bin to score their second of the game, which went unconverted, before Piper’s penalty stretched Burnham’s lead.

The visitors set nerves fraying with a third try, making the score 25-19 with 15 minutes still to play, but Burnham defended stoutly to record a victory which moves them back up to third.

Captain Ross McKechan said: “We started really positively and put them under pressure.

“We made really good use of the wide areas but they started to play narrower and we were dragged into a bit of a dogfight.

“We ground it out well at the end and showed great resilience - to take five points against a side who were third is a top effort.”

Burnham now have a weekend off before hosting Cheltenham Saracens, of Gloucester Premier, in the semi-finals of the South West Counties section of the RFU Senior Vase on February 2.

“It will be a good chance for our lads to test themselves against different opposition and hopefully we’ll get a good crowd,” McKechan said.