Burley 32 - 7 Bradford Salem

With Frankenstein's Wedding taking place in the background, Burley took to the field in a nonchalent and potentially complacent mood. The warm up was completed in good spirits and the game commenced with Burley playing up the fabled Abbey Road slope.

If there were any questions as to what Bradford Salem had to offer, these were opened in the opening salvo. The visitors looked to impose their abrasive style on the game and the first couple of scrums were a test for the talented Burley pack. However, as the game settled down, Burley's dominance at the set piece came to the fore. The line out and scrum worked well and Salem were put under pressure continually.

The scoring was opened when Salem ball was turned over just inside Burley territory. Second Row Richard Cuthbert popped the ball to partner in crime Palfery-Smith who broke the first line of defence and tore up the field. With winger Leeman and Number 8 Christie both in support, JPS ignored them and backed his pace, managing to crawl over the line about 20 minutes later (having enjoyed evading several tackle "attempts" along the way. Conversion missed by stand-in full back Tim Betts. 5-0 Burley.

Shortly after this, a Burley lineout in Salem territory was driven up by the forwards. Eventually Number 8 Richard Christie was able to open his account, crashing over the line on the left. Conversion missed. 10-0 Burley.

As half time arrived Burley knew the tiring Salem side would struggle playing up the hill in the second stanza and so approacched the restart with renewed vigour.

Richard Christie added to his tally shortly after the restart with a powerful run through the middle of the field. With supporting runners either side of him, Bottle-Job Christie did the sensible thing and took on the full back himself, scoring near the posts. Conversion missed (this time by Thistlethwaite). 15-0 Burley.

With fatty Marcus Peel entering the fray for ageing grey-head veteran Andrew Bissett, Peel immediately got himself onto the score sheet. A break involving centre pairing James Langtree, Tom Shirt and flanker Nell Robinson was halted just short of the try line. Stocky Peel took the ball on for a short drive and crashed over the line to open his account. Shortly afterwards he was heard to remark, "Mmmmm, I fancy a pie sandwich after that!"

Christie secured his hat-trick shortly afterwards. Anoth break through the traffic allowed him an easy run in to score under the posts. With the place kicks having been so abysmal thus far, skipper Christie took on the difficult conversion himself and converted it to give Burley a 27-0 lead. Unfortunately for Christie, as this was a friendly fixture, none of the scores will feature in the offical statistics. Bahahaha!

Salem added a score of their own when their flanker broke the line after several Burley players bottled the tackle. Training on Tuesday should be interesting for those concerned. You know who you are!

Fatty Peel got a second try when Binder, Shirt and Langtree combined down the right flank, with Langtree providing the final pass to the overweight pastry loving winger. Peel touched down in the right corner and, with the conversion missed, Burley led 32-7.

With only seconds remaining, coach Pita Lemming entered the fray as Robinson left the field with a broken nail. A Salem scrum was turned over as Lemming used his significant bulk and power in the front row. Palfery-Smith broke from the scrum and fed the ball to Thistlethwaite in space. Hot-Pot popped the ball to the ever supporting Christie who somehow managed to throw the ball forwards thus ending the game.

Attack wise, Burley managed to run through the majority of moves and phase play that has underwritten this seasons success. Defensively, bar one obvious blunder, Burley tackled with relish and put Salem under pressure all over the field

Next week sees Burley take the trip south to Mosborough for a league fixture. Training this week as usual, Tuesday 1830 for 1900.