On a bright and sunny afternoon and a lot of phone calls to raise a XV BoS IIs took on local rivals WSM. The game had to be played with uncontested scrums due to front row injuries. From the kick off Burnham took the initiative and after a few phases of play Jude Donnelly took a crash ball and a great run saw him score. Unfortunately the conversion could not be be made so 5-0 after 5 minutes.
From the kick off though began a period of dominance by the visitors seeing them score 17 points in roughly the same amount of time. 5-17 by the 25 minute mark. At that point Burnham went on the attack and Felix Grandfield took a ball into the WSM 22 and then came a turning point for the visitors. For some unknown reason the WSM fly half decided to use Felix’s head as a boot cleaner. The Referee immediately blew and called the WSM fly half across, after a talking to the WSM fly half was red carded. That probably changed the course of the game. Following that BoS scored their second try, unfortunately the match reporter was dealing with the head injury to note who scored. 10-17 at half time.
After the break the game broke up and no team could really put their stamp on the game. On 55th minute WSM were awarded a penalty on the half way line. Their decision was to kick for goal, the resulting attempt fell short and then came the game break of the day. Scott Mills received the ball and carried it from the BoS 22 to the WSM 22, only to be pulled down by a high tackle. From that point BoS played running rugby and tries were scored by TimJames, Scott Havercroft, Felix Grandfield and DaveWainwright. Three of the four conversions were successfully made by Scott Havercroft.
WSM had a golden chance of scoring only for Conor Howard to slap the ball out of the hands of the WSM winger who was going under the posts. The final five minutes of the game were played out in the centre of the pitch before the final whistle which saw BoS pick up five points for the win.
A massive shout out to those who put their hands up to play especially Neil Coleman, Darren Cridge-Drinkwater, Barry New and “Conor’s Mate”. MoM was Scott Mills who in only his third full game played skillfully and robustly always taking the game to WSM. Thanks also to David Timms and Robin Mccord for their help. Next weekend sees the IIs travel to Minehead where another win would really see them climb up the table.