Winter wonderland for Burn

Burn were back to winning ways as they comfortably beat St. Benedict’s 38-0 at Ramsgreave Drive.

With snow on the pitch and more falling during the match it was another cold day at Ramsgreave Drive. The weather made holding on to the ball hard and this showed at times as the ball was spilt forward often, but Burn showed they were the stronger team which saw them secure a bonus point win.

Despite the snow Burn got off to a scorching start, as after 2 minutes Burn kicked to the corner and from a catch and drive they powered over the try line with Ed Sinclair being in control of the ball to touch down. Leon added the extra points and Burn had an early 7 nil lead. After this Burn continued to dominate their opponents, however it was Bennies who were the next to come closest to scoring following an interception, Burn managed to recover to stop the try, however were penalised, but the away side were unable to kick the penalty. Leon Fifield showed Bennies how to do it as he kicked Burn further ahead from a penalty on 12 minutes. Burn kept up the pressure on Bennies, time after time Burn were pushing their opponents back in the scrum, however Bennies just managed to keep Burn out, while at other times Burn knocked on within sight of the try line. Burn had to wait until the 31st minute to score their second try, from a 5 metre scrum the home side got another shove on, Harry Pilkington then made a darting run before going low to score. Leon Fifield kicked the conversion making the score 17-0. There were no more scores in the half, before the break Bennies did manage to spend a little time out of their own half, but as the half closed out it was Burn who were the closest to score, but were unable to finish off chances.

The start of the second half saw Burn again having most of the possession, however good Bennies defence saw Burn losing control of the ball in contact. Burn were getting a little frustrated and things could have been a little more concerning as a Bennies centre made a good break from his own 22 to take play into Burn’s 22, but his pass was spilt forward. On 54 minutes Harry Pilkington thought he had his second try, however a late flag from the touch judge for a foot in touch during the build up took play back for a lineout. Although Burn didn’t need to wait long for the third try that they had been pushing for, as from the lineout the throw was not straight, this gave Burn a 5 metre scrum, Corey Logan was stopped short as he drove for the line, the ball was then passed wide, Phil Baines appeared to have been stopped, but he managed to keep going before passing to Sean Hall who managed to sneak in the corner to score. Leon Fifield superbly added the conversion from the right hand touch line to make the score 24-0. Burn secured a bonus point on 59 minutes, they had managed to keep hold of the ball and worked through the phases and as they were within a couple of metres of the try line Rob Bramhall exploited a gap in the defence to score. Yet again Leon Fifield added the extra points. On 68 minutes Rob Bramhall had his second try and Burn’s fifth. It was similar to the previous try as the gap opened up after Burn had kept possession and worked through the phases. Leon Fifield kicked the conversion to maintain his 100% kicking record for the game. After this Bennies had their best phase of the game, however were unable to break through Burn’s defence. The game ended with Burn back attacking, but could not score anymore points and the game ended 38-0.

Credit should be given to the grounds man and helpers for ensuring we had a game, many other matches around the area were called off. While the conditions still made it hard, Burn could have won this game by a greater margin, they failed to finish off good opportunities, but also Bennies defended well in the midfield to keep the score down. Next week Burn couldn’t face a much tougher challenge as they travel away to league leaders Vale of Lune.