Burn make light work of Workington

Burn were disappointed with the loss last week at Aspatria and were determined to make up for it and they did this and more as they thrashed a depleted Workington side, the home side scoring 14 tries ensuring a comfortable bonus point win.

After a minutes silence for club stalwart Gerry Webster, Burn had a quick start as from the kick off Ben Fox managed to gather the ball and this straight away put them on the front foot, Burn retained possession through several phases of play. The ball was recycled again and reached Ben Renton, he was stopped out wide, the ball was then feed back inside to Sam Morgan, he was tackled but not held so he managed to scramble another couple of yards, fast ball was passed out to Jamie Mayall he popped back inside to Liam Oldham who had a stroll from a few metres out to score under the posts. Jamie Mayall added the 2 extra points to give Burn an early 7 point lead. From the restart Workington managed to push Burn back towards their own try line following a penalty, however the home side managed to defend against the catch and drive, then from the resulting scrum, Burn broke out through Danny Holland and Rick Maudsley, this took play up to just outside the Workington 22, before Burn were awarded a penalty, which Jamie Mayall successfully kicked. On 11 minutes Burn had their second try, they were in their own half and broke with the ball going through several pair of hands before reaching Jamie Mayall out wide, he made good progress before passing back inside to Ali Wilde who had enough gas to cross the try line, again Mayall converted the 2 points making the score 17 nil. A further try came 5 minutes later, again the attack started in the Burn half, from a scrum the ball went open, the ball went along the backs, with Marc Mayer looping round and feeding Sean Hall, he broke through and then passed on to Rick Maudsley who just had enough pace to score out wide, this time the conversion was missed, but Burn still lead by 22 points. On 18 minutes the home side secured a bonus point as they scored their fourth try, from within his own half Josh Thundercliffe made a strong break, the ball then reached Ben Fox, he showed good strength and pace to make it up to the 22, he was pulled down but he managed to pop the ball off, it was then passed on to Sam Morgan who had cruised to the try line. Jaime Mayall converted from close to the touch line. Ali Wilde scored his second try of the game as Burn seemed to be scoring every time they got the ball, this time the try came as Workington had the put in at a scrum 5 metres from their own line, Burn got a big push on and drove the away side off their own ball, Wilde managed to gather the ball as Burn drove on and just did enough to get the ball down on the try line. Jamie Mayall was unable to kick the conversion. The tries kept coming as on 25 minutes Sean Hall scored out wide, this was after the ball being passed along the line, it reached Jaime Mayall out wide, he then feed back inside to the supporting Hall who scored in the corner. The 2 extra points were excellently kicked again from Jaime Mayall. After this Workington managed to retain some possession and had pushed Burn back into their own 22, but on 36 Burn broke away and scored again, first Josh Thundercliffe broke out, he passed to Ben Renton who had a mazy run from the right touch line to the left handside of the posts before being stopped just short of the try line, the ball was quickly recycled and passed to Jaime Mayall who was able just to fall over the line, he then managed to convert his own try taking the score to 48 nil at half time.

The second half started how the first ended with another try for Burn, this time after several phases of play Danny Holland managed to spot a gap to squeeze through and run round to score under the posts. The kick was successful, this time from Sam Morgan, this took the score to 55 – 0. The 50th minute saw Burn scoring a further try, on this occasion it was from turnover ball after Nick King had driven over the ball, it was then feed blind to Marc Mayer, from 15 metres out he chipped over the defence and ran on to his own kick to gather the ball and score, this time the conversion was missed. Another turn over lead to a try on 54 minutes, from just inside the Workington half Danny Holland went blind and found a gap in the flagging defence, he had support both inside and out, this gave him options, but also gave too much for the remaining defender to cope with and Holland used this to his advantage as he kept the ball himself to continue his run to score under the posts. Sam Morgan successfully converted taking the score to 67 nil. On 62 minutes Marc Mayer scored his second try of the day, from within their own half, Sean Hall made a break, he passed on to Ben Fox, he flicked it inside, Tom Marland showed great hands to gather the ball, as the ball was recycled it was passed into midfield to Anton Garcia who had a barn storming run, he made it up to the 22, he had options inside and out, he drew the last man before passing to Marc Maher who then had a clear run to the try line. The conversion was kicked by Sam Morgan. After a strong run on 68 minutes and then a one handed pass by Nick King, which found Anton Garcia, Burn scored as Garcia just showed enough strength to get over for yet another Burn try, this time Sam Morgan was not able to convert. Another try followed on 75 minutes, Burn yet again capitalised on a turnover ball, Rick Maudsley received the ball and set off on a weaving run all the way to the try line, he touched down under the posts and Sam Morgan kicked the conversion. Two minutes later Burn had the final try of the game, from a line out on their own 22 Burn spread the ball into the backs, Rick Maudsley gathered a loose pass and broke through a very tired Workington defence he passed on to Ben Renton who had an easy cruise to under the posts, Sam Morgan kicked the conversion taking the score to 93 nil. After this the referee blew up a little early, but Burn still had the biggest winning margin in my memory.

This was an exceptional win for Burn and it was nice that the hard work on the training ground paid off, they should enjoy this win, however they should not get carried away as much tougher tests face them and this starts next week when they face another difficult trip to Cumbria as they take on Whitehaven.

These thoughts were re-iterated by head coach, Dino Radice, “It came as no surprise how well the lads played, they deserved this for all the hard work they have put in recently. We were accurate and took our chances well. However, we will have to do this against tougher opposition on the road, this starts with Whitehaven this Saturday”