Burn into the final

In a hard-fought encounter Burn just edged the win as they scored with the last play of the game.

Burn started well with a penalty kick from Alex Taylorson after 3 minutes. Taylorson soon added another penalty to give Burn a 6 point lead. Burnage ended up with a man in the bin for a high tackle following Burns second penalty, but it didn’t seem to phase the home side as they retained the ball and pressured Burn and came away with a penalty of their own. Burn responded and made their way down to the Burnage 22, however despite pressuring the line they came away with nothing. After this play went to and from each half, with 5 minutes to half time Burn were attacking and were 30 metres out, they were looking threatening, however as they looked to spread the ball it was intercepted by a Burnage centre who just had enough pace and stamina to go all the way to score by the posts. The conversion was added. Burnage weren’t done for the half, as they scored another 7 points, this time they turned the ball over at the break down 35 metres from the Burn line, the ball was fed into midfield, the dangerous Burnage fly half then made a break into the 22 before passing back inside to a teammate to score. This gave Burnage a 17-6 half time lead.

Burn had a dream start in the second half as Wilf Whittle scored under the posts. Burnage had been trying to run out of their own half, but a great tackle from Phil Baines drove the Burnage player back resulting in a turnover, Burn made their way into the 22 and won a line out, they went through a few phases until the ball was passed inside to Whittle who brushed a defender aside to score. Alex Taylorson added the extra points. Then a big moment in the game, as on 55 minutes the Burnage fullback was shown a straight red card for a kick at Jacob McHugh. On 62 minutes Burn made use of the number supremacy as they scored their second try, from within the 22 Josh Reilly had a jinking run, Alex Evans made a few more yards as did Wilf Whittle, the ball was then gathered by Corey Logan who went low to just sneak over the try line. Alex Taylorson again added the conversion and Burn now led 17-20. Burnage came back at Burn, however they missed a penalty that would have levelled the scores, however on 72 minutes they had another chance and this time there was no mistake and the score was 20 all. As time was ticking away Burn had chances, but play just broke down. Then with the last play of the game Burn snatched the win, Burn had been really pressurising their opponents and Burnage had done well to keep Burn out, but when the ref brought play back for a penalty, Josh Reilly was the quickest thinker and he took a quick tap and despite an outstretched arm from a Burnage man he managed to dive and score. Alex Taylorson added the conversion to make the final score 20-27.

Through this match Burn still had the tendency to create problems for themselves, the two Burnage tries came from an interception and Burn being turned over at the breakdown when there didn’t seem too much pressure, however at other times Burn played some good stuff, as they attacked with pace and intensity. Burnage should be credited for how they remained competitive despite being down to 14 men after the sending off, however as time went on Burn had more and more chances and in the end they deserved the win. Hopefully, this win will help build Burns confidence after a run of bad results, this game showed they can come out on top in a close game. Next week Burn are back to league business as they travel away to Manchester.