Burns bad run continues

Burn returned to league action and were beaten 35 – 29 away at Manchester.

In a free-flowing game Burn out scored their opponent’s in try’s, but Manchester kicked more of their conversions and took their penalties when they had their chances and in the end, this made the difference.

Manchester had a gift of a try on 5 minutes, a poor Burn pass went to ground close to the half way line, a Manchester player hacked on and the foot race began which the Manchester player was leading, as the ball slowed just before the try line he manged to gather to score in the corner. The conversion was well kicked. Following this Burn did build pressure on Manchester and were awarded penalties in the Manchester 22, they elected to scrum, but were unable to take advantage and Manchester cleared the danger. However, Burn came back at the home side, from their own half they spread the ball wide to Josh Reilly, he beat his man and as he approached the 22 he passed back inside to Scott Richardson who appeared to have been pulled down just short of the try line, but momentum took him over to score. The conversion was missed. On 19 minutes Manchester scored their second try and it was a good one, they kept the ball alive and found their way through Burns defence by switching passes inside, outside and inside again to score by the posts. The conversion was added to make the score 14-5. Burn nearly responded straight away, but Jamie Brookes was held up as he crossed the try line. However, they did score from the resulting scrum, Sam Gale went from the back of the scrum and muscled his way under the posts. Alex Taylorson added the extra points. On 27 minutes Manchester had their third try, their strong running centre was stop short of the try line, the ball was then spread to the right, again they kept the ball alive to create the space to score. Again the conversion was kicked. Manchester had a man sent to the bin on 33 minutes and just on the stroke of half time Burn scored, from a 5 metre scrum, Burn went blind and Marc Maher dummied to score in the corner. The conversion was well kicked by Taylorson and the half time score was 21-19.

Despite Manchester having the early pressure in the second half it was Burn who scored to take the lead and it was a good try, from a line out in their own half the ball was feed off the top and spread wide, Phil Baines made the initial break, before Alex Taylorson made more yards, he passed to Josh Reilly he shrugged off his man on the 22 and ran round to score close to the posts. Unfortunately, the conversion was missed. Almost straight away Manchester levelled the score with a penalty. Burn then suffered a blow on 54 minutes after Jamie Brookes was shown a yellow card, in the time Burn were down to 14 men the home side scored 11 points, as they scored their fourth try and kicked 2 penalties to lead 35-24. With time ticking away Burn did make it a tense finale, Ross Liddle ran on and fell on the ball for a try after chasing his own hack through. The conversion was missed, but Burn were now within 6 points of their opponents. Burn then nearly stole it at the end as Corey Logans barraging run took him to the 22, however his pass to Ross Liddle was forwarded, had it not been then Liddle would have been round to score by the posts. With no other points added the game ended 35-29.

Burn got 2 point from this game, but would have hoped to have got more, however like in other games this season they tried too often to force the game which cost them position. They need to be more patient, back themselves to retain position, manage the game better, play rugby in the right areas, take points when on offer and they can find their way out of this slump. Hopefully they can do this sooner rather than later as it is getting congested in the bottom quarter of the league with eighth to twelfth position separated by just 5 points. Things don’t get easier for Burn as Firwood Waterloo travel to Ramsgreave Drive next week.