Hoppers too hot to handle

Burn faced Hoppers in the worst conditions yet seen this season, with waterlogging meaning a last minute change to the pitch, while the wind a rain meant the wind chill was fairly brutal. Hoppers have two teams at this age group, and today we hosted their bigger side, boasting players from Hutton and Kirkham. With the extra coaching and training they will be enjoying, it was not a surprise that the guests were two tries to 0 up in the first 10 minutes, with powerful running and great lines testing a resilient Burn defence. They could have been more ahead but conditions were not conducive to catching, so a lot of scrums meant at least the 10 lads in that positions got a little warm up in the huddle. The second 10 started with a scrum to Burn, and form that we finally showed what we had in the bank, Tom F eventually skinning the great Hoppers defence thanks to a lucky slip. Johnny powered over for a second equalling the game, before the Hoppers back line managed to regain the lead with a try right in the corner.
Lots more changes at half time, with the u12s boasting 6 subs, including newbie Seb, and before too long Hoppers stretched their lead, but only having had to try to defend a great long attacking spell. Blackburn were then unlucky not to score after a quick restart, and were using all there tricks to try and break a determined Hoppers defence, but the game started to slip away at this point as tired, cold bodies and minds gave a few easy possessions away. Harry R, playing full back, gathered a Hoppers exit kick before weaving and spinning out of tackles beautifully, to give us a wee bit of hope but the guests came up with a phenomenal one man drive from Hoppers with a controversial try being awarded to the lad who had bumped off three tackles on his way over.

At the final whistle the Burn lads were undoubtedly down, especially as this is our first loss to Hoppers. Truth be told 2 of the tries could have been chalked off, and the fact we were the only contact game played today despite the conditions made us coaches extremely proud of our lads and the way they stuck at it. Great to see Johnny back after a long absence, while Josh had a great session and is really coming on. Home advantage again next week, fortress Ramsgreave here we come.