A dominant first half performance sealed this victory for Burn, they led 31-7 at half time, the supporters would have hoped Burn might have pushed on in the second half and spare the nerves of those watching, however in the end Burn’s defence held strong and in the end Burn ran out comfortable winners.

It was Carlisle who had the first chance of points, but their penalty kick at goal was pulled to the left. Burn soon punished them as they scored their first try on 10 minutes, from a line out 5 metres from Carlisle’s try line, Burn caught and drove before Jordan Pearson peeled off, he bounced one man out the way, he then managed to twist and fall over the line. Leon Fifield added the 2 extra points. Burn’s second try came after 18 minutes. Some ill discipline from Carlisle saw Burn awarded a string of penalties, from one of these Burn elected to take a 5 metre scrum, from this they got a bit of a shove on, Jordan Pearson then flicked the ball to Josh Reilly, his darting run took him through a gap in the defence to score. Fifield was unable to kick the conversion. Burn’s third try was scored by Leon Fifield on 24 minutes, he had managed to seize a loose ball on the half way line, he followed this by going round one man and then handed off the last defender before showing just enough pace to beat the covering Carlisle men to the try line. He was unable to add the conversion. The score was now 17-0 to Burn. However, within 5 minutes Carlisle got their first points of the game with a try and conversion. From a 5 metre scrum the number 8 set off on a powerful run that took him through the Burn defence to score. This didn’t dent Burn’s confidence and they managed to secure a bonus point on 33 minutes with their fourth try. Liam Canning stole a line out on half way, the ball was then feed to Ben Renton, his arcing run caught Carlisle by surprise, it looked like he might make it all the way to the try line, but a defender began to close him down, however Renton kept his head and sensibly passed back inside to Josh Reilly who went over for his second try. Leon Fifield’s excellent conversion from the touch line made the score 24-7. Burn were not done with the points scoring in the half and Jordan Pearson crashed over from another catch and drive from a line out. Leon Fifield added the extra points to make the half time score 31-7.

The second half started the same way the first ended with another Burn try, this time the try came from Liam Canning, he took the ball at pace 30 metres out, he went through the initial gap, a hand off took him past the next defender, after this it didn’t look like the remaining defenders really wanted to make a tackle and I don’t blame them as his rampaging run took him to the try line. Leon Fifield missed the conversion, but the score was now 36-7. This was as good as it got for Burn, as for the rest of the half Carlisle had the better of the game. Carlisle dominated possession as Burn struggled to hold on to the ball and Carlisle were rewarded with their second try on 59 minutes. This time it was the visitors who benefited from a catch and drive as they crashed over the try line, but they were unable to add the conversion. Carlisle continued to test Burn’s defence until the end of the game, but the Cumbrian’s were not able to score any more points and Burn ended with a sizeable 36-12 winning margin.

This was a crucial win for Burn as they strive to stay in North One West, while they are not mathematically safe this win does go a long way in helping them stay up. If Carlisle fail to beat Leigh next week then Burn will be safe. Burn will hope that they don’t need to rely on another Carlisle slip up, but they face a tough run in, this starts next week as they travel to Penrith.