Neither team had anything to really play for in this game which led to an open game watched by a decent crowd who were down for the beer festival. While Burn may have felt this was a winnable game, Penrith just had the edged which saw them home.

In the early minutes of the game Penrith kept control of the ball with Burn struggling to get any possession, however Burn’s defence remained organised and the Cumbrian side failed to make any real progress and on 5 minutes it was Burn who crossed the try line first. Penrith tried a little grubber kick, Sean Hall gathered the ball just outside his 22, a jinking run made some good yardage, he was finally stopped, but the ball was recycled and feed to Leon Fifield, he received the ball just inside the Penrith half, he cut inside and inside again to put him in clear space, with 2 defenders left he cut inside again and went around the outside of the final defender to score. He then added the 2 extra points. Burn’s lead was soon 10 points as Fifield kicked a penalty from just inside his own half. On 15 minutes Penrith narrowed the gap with a penalty kick of their own. On 22 minutes Burn were held up over the try line, there then followed a series of 5 metre scrums, in the final one Burn got a strong controlled push on, with Penrith back pedalling Jordan Pearson was able to take the ball and drop over the try line. Towards the end of the half Burn suffered a blow as Sean Hall was shown a yellow card, in the next 10 minutes while he was in the bin Penrith scored 19 points which changed the game. The first 5 of these came with the last play of the half, Penrith had dragged Burn to the right and then sent the ball back to the left this created space out wide enabling the full back to go over to score. This left the half time score 15-8 to Burn.

Penrith soon added another try at the start of the second half, they had made progress and were stopped from going over in the corner, the ball was then passed back inside with a Penrith player hitting a good line to take him through the Burn defence. The conversion was added and the scores were level. A further try and conversion came on 48 minutes and Burn would have been disappointed with their defence as they made it easy for the away side to score their third try. Burn soon hit back, again the home side’s scrum was dominant and from a scrum just inside the Penrith half, Burn got the Cumbrian pack going backwards again, Jordan Pearson then flipped the ball to Josh Reilly his break took play to the Penrith 22, he drew the last man and put Zac Child in the clear to touch down. The conversion was missed, but Burn were now within 2 points of the opponents. The killer try for Penrith came as Burn were on the attack, but the ball was knocked on and Penrith countered from within their own half, as they broke into the Burn 22 the ball was tossed back inside, it went to ground, but a Penrith player was there and picked up the ball and strolled over to score. The conversion was added and the score was now 29-20 to the Cumbrian’s. This was how the score ended despite Burn’s best efforts before the close.

Burn would have hoped to win their final game of the season, however like too many other games this season they didn’t help themselves and they let a team back in the game after going into a decent lead. This being said after promotion last year Burn knew this league was a big step up and just remaining at this level was an achievement, which is more than they could do last time they were promoted. Hard work and further recruitment will be needed in the summer, however the foundations are there to build on, which will hopefully result in a higher league finish next season. One player who won’t be back next is Tony Thoma who is set to retire, we wish him well and hope to see him back at the club in the future.