After a number of wet match days of late Burn would have been thankful that they finally had a dry day and they made full use of it as they ran in 6 tries on the way to an ultimately comfortable victory.

Burn came out flying with a try within the first minute, Burn had managed to turnover Carlisle from the kickoff, the forwards initially drove on before the ball was released to the backs, Phil Baines put in a grubber kick, Leon Fifield followed it up and the ball bounced favourably enabling him to gather and run on to score. He was unable to add the conversion. Burn’s second try came on 9 minutes, Carlisle had tried to clear their lines, however Marc Maher gathered the kick, he launched a long pass of his left hand to Sean Hall, he had a mazy cross field run before passing to Harry Pilkington who had enough pace to arc round to score in the corner. Leon Fifield added the extra points to make the score 12-0. Fifield then added a penalty 7 minutes later. Then on 26 minutes Burn had their third try, from a scrum on the Carlisle 22 the ball was passed out to Phil Baines, he crashed up to 10 metres out, the ball was recycled, James Henderson popped it to Sean Hall, he shrugged off his opponent before stretching to score. Fifield missed the conversion, but Burn now led 20-0. After this Carlisle finally managed to gain some possession and also territory as they edged into the Burn half with the help of penalties, they were looking for tries as they gave up chances to kick at goal. The penalties kept coming and the pressure mounted on Burn, they managed to hold off Carlisle until 38 minutes when the Cumbrian’s finally managed to find a gap in the Burn defence, the conversion was added which made the half time score 20-7.

From the start of the second half Burn attacked Carlisle, Matthew Wilkinson made a good break taking play to the 22, the move broke down, but Burn were awarded a penalty which Fifield duly slotted. Carlisle came back at Burn and dominated possession, again aided by Burn regularly being penalised. The visitors seemed to have phase after phase as they tried to breach the Burn defence, however Burn blunted their opponent’s attacks. Then on 65 minutes Burn once again made Carlisle pay as they scored their fourth try to secure a bonus point. Sean Hall had gathered a clearance kick just outside his own 22, he took play to the 10 metre line, he then put in a diagonal chip, Leon Fifield ran on and managed to take the ball before it bounced, he then powered through a Carlisle man, he then went round another and finally held off the covering defender to score. The conversion was missed, but Burn led 28-7. Carlisle’s restart went out on the full, from the scrum on the half way line Corey Logan fed Harry Pilkington, he drew a man and passed to Matthew Wilkinson who made half a break and offloaded back inside to Danny Booth, he then in turn passed back outside to Harry Pilkington enabling him to run in from 20 metres out. Leon Fifield added the extra points. Carlisle were not giving up and were back in the Burn 22, their cause was helped as Danny Booth was sin binned on 75 minutes. Straight away Carlisle had a 5 metre scrum, however they were unable to get a push on so the ball was released to the backs, the Burn back line were up quick and Leon Fifield anticipate a pass wide and intercepted the ball on the 22, he then had enough speed and stamina to run the rest of the pitch to score under the post’s and secure his hat-trick. He then managed to add the conversion taking Burn’s tally to 42 and his own personal tally to an impressive 27 points. There were no more scores in the game, however in the closing minutes Carlisle again pressurised Burn’s line, but yet again Burn’s defence held strong to deny their opponents to leave the score 42-7 at the final whistle.

Burn should be very pleased with this win, it could be argued that the score line faltered Burn as Carlisle had a lot of possession and did threaten Burn’s try line on a regular basis, especially in the second half, however Burn defended well and they had that cutting edge that Carlisle didn’t, which enabled Burn pull away from their opponents. This was Burn’s fourth win in a row, they travel away next week to Altrincham Kersal where they will hope they can make it 5.