This was another game that slipped out of Burn’s grasp, they led at one point by 11 points to 3, however they failed to kill off the game and allowed the home side to chip away at their advantage and Whitehaven ended the game the stronger team.

Burn started slowly and ill disciplined as they gave the home side an early penalty kick at goal, but the kicked was missed. This sparked Burn into life and managed some sustained pressure, which resulted in them having a slot at goal on 7 minutes, which Jamie Mayall took to give the away side a 3 nil lead. Burn made a mess of the restart and put pressure on themselves and were penalised in their own 22, but again they were let off as the kick was missed. Burn continued giving penalties and on 13 minutes Whitehaven pulled level, a change of Whitehaven’s kicker aided this, as the new kicker successfully converted from 40 metres out. After this the away side had the better of the game, but didn’t threaten the try line as they made too many little, but ultimately costly mistakes. Mayall did have a penalty kick at goal, but pulled it wide. The closest Burn got to the try line was after turnover ball on the half way line, play was spread out to Ben Renton on the left wing, he chipped on, but Whitehaven got back to clear the pressure. Just before half time Whitehaven had their chance to score, a barnstorming run from a big Whitehaven second row put Burn on the back foot, he passed on and it looked like the home side would score in the corner, but Sam Parkinson made an excellent last ditch tackle to keep Whitehaven out, this left the score all square at half time.

Whitehaven started the better in the second half, but Burn looked dangerous on the break and were awarded a penalty on the Whitehaven 22, which Jamie Mayall successfully kicked. On 50 minutes we had the first try of the game, yet again Burn turned over the ball and were awarded a penalty on half way, Chris Lowden took a quick tap and passed it on to Adam Stubbs, he made good progress up the right wing and when he got caught he offloaded inside to Sean Hall who cruised in from 20 metres out. Jamie Mayall hit the post with the conversion, but Burn now had an 11-3 lead and looked dangerous when the backs got the ball. However, instead of Burn pushing on Whitehaven began their steady comeback, this started on 57 minutes with a penalty kick. Burn still threatened on the break, again Adam Stubbs broke up the right wing, however this time his offload was just too high for Cameron Boulter and the move came to an end. After this the game began to slip away from the away side as they continually gave away penalties and on 66 minutes Whitehaven had another kick at goal, the kicked was missed, however the referee had lost his patience with Burn and sent Chris Lowden to the sin bin. Whitehaven’s number supremacy resulted in the home side going in front on 73 minutes, the try was scored as the forwards rumbled on through several phases of play to crash over the Burn try line, the conversion was then well kicked and Whitehaven led 13-11. After this Whitehaven didn’t give Burn a chance as they completely controlled play and showed very good composure to retain the ball for the remainder of the match and secure their win. This left Burn with only the scant consolation of a losing bonus point.

After last week’s demolish of Workington, Burn would have been hopeful that they continued the winning run, a similar score would have been total unrealistic, but a solid win was a possibility, however Burn’s forwards struggled to get the team moving forward, resulting in the backs being starved of the ball. Burn looked dangerous on the counter attack after turnover ball, but this was just not enough, had the backs got more ball the score may have been significantly different.

Head coach, Dino Radice, was left frustrated by the performance, “We were not good enough, we have the players, however the forwards did not give any decent go forward ball to the backs. Although when the backs did get the ball, they didn’t take their chances. Poor discipline, tackling and inaccurate finishing added to the wrong message we are sending the rest of the league.”

Burn will hope to get back to winning ways as they face Upper Eden at Ramsgreave Drive next week.