From the start of this match Burn were on top and regular tries saw them cruise to a comfortable victory, Leon Fifield scored a hat-trick, but Paddy Gaffey went one better as he scored 4.

Burn got a flying start with a try within 2 minutes, Anton Garcia initially broke the line, Marc Maher then threw it wide to Paddy Gaffey who went on to score unopposed. Leon Fifield was unable to kick the conversion. Burn didn’t waste too much time in scoring their second as they crossed the line again on 8 minutes and it was a real opportunist try. Leigh had been working their way towards half way, they tried to spread the ball to the backs, but Liam Canning saw it coming and intercepted and then had a clear run to the try line. Fifield added the extra points and Burn now led 12 – 0. Burn continued to dominate and they soon had another try, Jake Maher had chipped on, Leon Fifield followed up and hacked it on, another kick on took the ball within 10 metres of the try line, Fifield had the company of defenders, but showed some quick thinking as he kicked on, but on an angle to take the ball away from defenders and he went on to fall on the ball to score, he then added the conversion. Tries were coming thick and fast, however the next try was from the visitors, this time it was them would benefited from a hack on as the ball ran over the try line and their player won the foot race to score in the corner. This seemed to even out the play for a while, but Burn took control again as they secured a bonus on 24 minutes with their fourth try. They had gone through phase after phase, the ball was then spread wide, good hands allowed Leon Fifield space to enable him to go over for his second try. His conversion took the score to 26 – 5. On 33 minutes Burn went further ahead, a cross field kick into the Leigh 22 bounced up high and you know it is going to be your day as Fifield jumped the highest and he then tapped the ball into the hands of Paddy Gaffey who ran on to score. Fifield then managed to kick the conversion from the touch line. There was still time for another Burn try and conversion before the end of the half, this time it was Marc Maher, his dummy and power took him through the defensive line and he ran on to score under the posts. This made the half time score 40 – 5.

Leigh put some early pressure on Burn at the start of the second half, but Burn blunted each of their attacks and cleared the danger. After resisting Leigh, Burn made their way up the pitch and on 50 minutes they had a further try. From a line out in the 22 the ball was released to the backs, first there was a crash ball, before spreading play wide where Paddy Gaffey went really low to finish well in the corner to secure his hat-trick. The conversion was missed. Soon after Burn passed the half century mark, Marc Maher ran a clearance kick back at Leigh, he feigned a kick then ran round the kick chaser before drawing the final defenders, his pass was a little high, but Leon Fifield gathered it well and went on to score his hat-trick, he then added the conversion. On 62 minutes another try and conversion took the score to 59 -5, play had been in the middle of the pitch until Phil Baines powered through the defence to score. 5 minutes later Burn scored again, from a scrum on half way Nico Havenga went blind, he passed to Luke Cunningham, he feed on to Jake Maher, in turn in passed on to Paddy Gaffey, he then passed back inside to Jake Maher, this completely opened up the Leigh defence and Maher was able to jog to the line unopposed. After this Leigh had more of the ball and were getting the rub of the green from the refs decisions, however no matter how hard they tried they were unable to breach the Burn defence. Instead it was Burn who again made them pay as they scored a final try with the last play of the game, Burn had turned over the ball, Jake Maher made an initial break, the ball was then released wide, Phil Baines made a half break before passing to James Henderson, he showed great hands to put Paddy Gaffey in the clear to enable him to outpace his opponents to score his fourth try. Leon Fifield added the extra points to make the final score 71 – 5.

This was Burn’s biggest win of the season and was a welcome return to form. Leigh had shown good form coming into this game, but never looked like challenging Burn as the home side fairly much dominated from start to finish. Burn will be pleased with much of their attacking play today, they should also be pleased with their desire to defend, with such a comfortable lead it would have been easy for them to ease of their defence, however they didn’t and kept knocking their opponents back. Burn will need to be at their best next week as they make the difficult trip to Vale of Lune.