It is always a tight game between Burn and Eccles and this encounter was no different, added to this a heavy pitch meant that we were unlikely to see free flowing rugby and this is the way it panned out as we saw a scrappy game with handling errors and just 4 points between the 2 teams.

The game was a cagey affair from the start with much of the play in the middle of the pitch. Eccles came the closest to scoring in the early stages, but Burn’s defence held them out. It wasn’t until 25 minutes that Eccles broke down the Burn defence to score a try after good work to keep the ball alive. Not long after Leon Fifield had a chance to narrow the gap, but his penalty kick fell short and wide. Burn’s cause was not helped as Fifield was shown a yellow card just before half time.

Burn started the second half the sharper and a Dan Birkett penalty on 44 minutes gave Burn 3 points, meaning Eccles just led by 5 points to 3. However, Eccles extended their lead on 54 minutes, they had kicked to the corner from a penalty and a well worked line out opened a gap in the Burn defence and they managed to score in the corner making the score 10-3 for the home side. A Leon Fifield penalty on 62 minutes gave Burn another 3 points. There were no more points in the game, but both teams had chances for tries, Leon Fifield was an offload away from putting Matt Hughes in the clear and Dan Birkett made a good break, but was just hauled down 5 metres short of the try line. While Eccles were using the catch and drive to good effect and came close to scoring on a couple of occasions, but Burn’s defence held out well.

While Burn had chances to win this game, in the end poor decisions and ill discipline put pressure on themselves which gave Eccles opportunities to score further points and ultimately Burn would have been relieved to hang on to the losing bonus point. Burn will face another tough game next week as they welcome Altrincham Kersal to Ramsgreave Drive.