After a string of poor results it could have been expected that Burn may have slumped to a heavy defeat when they went 15 nil down, however they showed good character to slowly eat away at Rochdale’s lead and with just 5 minutes to go they eventually took the lead and held on for the win.

Despite Burn starting the brighter it was Rochdale who took the early lead from a penalty kick. On 10 minutes Burn looked like they were going to even the points up, but instead took a quick tap penalty and spread the ball wide, Matt Hughes came close to the try line, however he was bundled into touch. Burn were soon to regret this decision as on 13 minutes Rochdale had a try and conversion. Sean Hall gathered the ball in his own 22 following a Rochdale kick through, he tried to run it out and when tackled he attempted an offload, but the ball went to ground which presented a gift to a Rochdale player who picked up the ball and ran on to touch down. A further try on 20 minutes extended Rochdale’s lead to 15 points. Burn’s first points of the game came on 32 minutes, this time Matt Hughes was the beneficiary of a miss placed pass, as he gathered the ball on the half way line following a loose Rochdale pass, he then showed enough pace to beat the covering defenders to the try line. Leon Fifield was unable to kick the conversion. For the rest of the half Burn had the better of the play, but were unable to add any further points leaving the score at 15- 5 to Rochdale at half time.

Burn started the second half and took control, a control they rarely let slip for the rest of the game. They were rewarded on 54 minutes with a try and conversion. Liam Canning made a powerful break taking play from half way into the Rochdale 22, he was eventually tackled, but managed to pop the ball up to a well supporting Cameron Boulter who crossed the line to score. Leon Fifield added the extra points. Burn continued to have the better of the game, however it wasn’t until 75 minutes that Burn took the lead. They had been pressuring the Rochdale line and elected scrums when awarded penalties 5 metres out. From the second of these scrums the ball was released to the backs, Joe Lord took a crash ball and he was hauled down just short of the line, the ball was recycled and Tony Thoma went low to just creep over to score. Leon Fifield kicked the conversion to make the score 19 – 15 to Burn. Burn just did just enough to hang on for the win, the cause not being helped with a Fifield yellow card.

Hopefully this result will give Burn the confidence needed in their fight to avoid relegation. This game showed that they can take control games, build phases and execute their chances. There is still the need to keep improving and they will hope they do this as they welcome Altrincham Kersal to Ramsgreave Drive next week.