Two tries in each half was enough to secure a win and bonus point for Burn. Throughout the game Burn’s forwards were on top and gave a solid basis to dominate much of the game, while at times Rochdale managed to retained possession they struggled to make any telling breaches of Burn’s much improved defence.

Rochdale started with the advantage of a strong wind behind them, however it was Burn who had the better of the play as they were forced to keep ball in hand as the wind made kicking the last option. Burn were rewarded for their early possession with a try on 10 minutes, they had kept building the phases and didn’t panic, the ball was finally spread wide, Anton Garcia received it a little static, but he showed good strength to give him the opportunity to stretch and touchdown. Jake Maher was unable to add the conversion. Rochdale hit back with a penalty on 16 minutes. After this Burn remained the sharper of the two teams, but much of the play was between the two 22’s, however on 31 minutes they managed to break through and score again. They elected to take a tap penalty from about 30 metres out, the ball was passed to the forwards and they made it to the 22 before the ball was released along the backs, this time it was Phil Baines who made it to the try line after a strong handoff gave him the space to breach the Rochdale defensive line enabling him to slide in the corner. The conversion was missed again. Burn remained on top, they were helped when a Rochdale centre was sent to the bin and Burn pushed hard for their third try, they came close on a couple of occasions, but had to settle for a 10-3 half time lead.

Burn didn’t have to wait too long into the second half to score their third try as Liam Canning was the Burn man who crossed the try line this time. Play had started on half way, a good catch and drive, then a darting run from Josh Reilly took Burn into the home sides 22, the ball was turned over, however Rochdale were just not able to clear their lines and Burn managed to regain possession right under the posts, the ball was then spread to the right where Liam Canning had space to go over to score. The conversion was again missed, but this time by Phil Baines. With the wind now behind them Burn would have hoped to push on, but the home side made it tough as they now tried not to kick and kept the ball in hand. Despite Rochdale retaining the ball, they were not really able to get out of their own half too often and failed to threaten the Burn try line, however while they had the ball it was frustrating Burn who were looking for the fourth try to secure the bonus point. Burn had to wait until the last play of the game to secure this bonus point. Rochdale had the put in to a scrum 5 metres from their own line, but like so many other scrums in the game the Burn pack had their opponents going backwards and under pressure at the back of the scrum the home side knocked on, this gave Burn the put in to the scrum, again Burn got a good shove on, they edged closer and closer to the try line, the referee saw an infringement and felt Burn would have scored and so awarded a penalty try. Phil Baines added the conversion to make the final score 22-3.

At times in the first half Burn played some of their best rugby of the season, they played with patience and control, if they had managed to keep this up in the second half the score differential would have been greater. However, they should still be satisfied as Burn lost at Rochdale last season, so it was rewarding to return and secure maximum points, this win leaves Burn in sixth in the league with 23 points, this compares to just 12 points this time last year. This game saw the return of Marc Maher following a year out injured, it was also Danny Maher’s first game for the club, so along with other brother Jake, it meant Burn had three Maher’s in their squad, long may it continue! Burn will be back at Ramsgreave Drive next week to play Warrington, so far Burn have had very mixed results at home, but they will hope to take their recent good away form back home.