Burn lose out to Stockport

Burn started their league campaign away at Stockport, but came up short as the home side won 32-20.

While Stockport had the majority of the possession, when Burn got the ball they looked dangerous and this showed in the try count with both sides scoring 4 tries which provided some consolation in the form of a try bonus point.

Stockport took the lead on 8 minutes through a penalty and added a further 3 points on 15 minutes. However, Burn hit back on 19 minutes with the first try of the game. From a scrum in the middle of the pitch the ball was fed to Harry Pilkington, then to Tom Evans, he found Sean Hall on the wing, Hall made good progress up the flank, but was brought down just short of the try line, Steve Kent was quick to the break down and acted fast to gather the ball and go low to score in the corner. Leon Fifield was unable to kick the conversion, this set an unusual tone for Fifield for the rest of the game as he was not able to convert any of the Burn tries. Burn’s penalty count continued to increase and this saw Liam Canning being sent to the sin bin on 24 minutes. This stretched Burn and soon after Stockport had a try and conversion after a catch and drive from a lineout. Stockport kept getting the chance to kick for the corner following penalties, they kept pressing the Burn try line, but the away sides defence held strong and it was actually Burn who scored the next try on the stroke of half time. Burn won a scrum against the head 35 metres from the Stockport try line, the ball was fed to Harry Pilkington and then Marc Maher who chipped on, as the ball bounced over the try line Leon Fifield easily won the foot race to fall on the ball to score, making the score 13-10 at half time.

From the start of the second half Stockport were on top and were camped on the Burn line, Burn’s defence held up until the 9th minute of the half when the home side dragged Burn from one side to the other creating gaps enabling Stockport to score. A further try soon followed for Stockport, Burn were attacking, but the ball was intercepted on the half way line leaving the Stockport man a clear run to the try line. The conversion was added and the score was now 25-10. After this Burn got a little more of the ball and a few penalties helped them keep play in the Stockport 22. On 59 minutes they elected to take a 5 metre scrum following a penalty. Burn got a bit of a nudge on and then Rob Bramhall took the ball from the back of the scrum and saw a gap that took him to the try line. On 68 minutes Burn scored their fourth try which took them to within 5 points of their opponents. The try came following a line out in the Stockport 22, the ball was spread wide where Sean Hall rounded his man to score. Burn had the momentum, but they let this slip and a Stockport try and conversion on 75 minutes extinguished Burn’s hopes of a comeback. This made the score 32-20 and this is how the game ended.

Burn will be disappointed with the final result as this game was there for the winning, if they can reduce the penalty count, keep hold of the ball and show more composure they will cause their future opponents real problems. This improvement will be needed next week as they welcome Vale of Lune who had an impressive win in their opening game.