Burnham 2nd 0 Crewkerne 87  5th Jan 13

“Burnham get a Rugby lesson from Div 2’s Top drawer”

Burnham seconds travelled to Crewkerne on Sat 05 Jan to take on Div two league leaders Crewkerne. The  Burnham side  were  still  on  Xmas  Holidays for  this  encounter and  were not  well  prepared  for  this top  of  the  table clash they  were to  be  made  to pay  dearly   for  their  lack  of  preparation. The skipper Matt Slater and  his  Deputy  Lee  Berry had  received  a very  poor response regarding  player  availability to  make  this  fixture but in the  true  spirit  of  the  game and the  fact  that  Burnham have  a reputation of not  shying away  from adversity; a side  was  put  together; most  were regular 2s players but  were in some  cases playing out  of  position.

It was  clear  from  the kick  off  that Crewkerne were a comprehensive  unit they were very  fluent in their  interaction between the  two divisions  of  backs  and  forwards and  were quick  to  exploit the  deficiencies  in the  Burnham side;  they  linked  up  extremely  well much  credit to  key  players who  were dictating the  flow  of  play, this  frustrated  Burnham as  they  could  not  settle into  their game  mode. Their play paid off and they soon began to rack the points up. This  was  brought about  by  playing simple basic  rugby and  exploiting the  mistakes  made  by  the  Burnham Side.

Burnham as  is  often the normal  paid to  much  respect  to  the  home   side  and allowed  them  to  dictate the  pace  of  play  it  was  not  until Burnham began to put  there stamp in the  game  that headway  was  made, this  resulted in sporadic phases  of  good  cohesive  play  from  the  Burnham  side, unfortunately  this  effort  could not be sustained for  any  length of  time  to  reap  the  benefits of  the  effort  put  in; in the  mean time  the  Home  side  continued  to  carry  out  point demolition of Burnham.

The Crewkerne pack were instrumental in most  of  the  emulating passages  of play  and  provided Burnham with  lots  of  learning accounts  to  take  away  from this game, albeit the  Burnham side  did not  shirk  from the  task  meeting them head  on in all  areas.

In the passages  of play  where Burnham got  it  together some  really concentrated effort came out Chris  Lee and  Will  Conway who continually penetrated into  the  home  sides  defence, Forward play  in many  cases complimented the  effort  by  the  backs and  in numerous cases the  home   side  were pinned  down in their own 22, unfortunately Burnham could  not  break in and  cross  the  line despite some extremely determined  effort.

It is difficult to find accolade to the Burnham side with  such  a devastating score line but all  credit to  the  side  who  did not roll  over and  retained a high level  of interaction right up to  the  final  whistle; all  those  who  played are to  be  congratulated for  sustaining the  effort  against the  odds  that  faced  them. Well done.
Their  are many  learning accounts  to take  away  from this game, these  will be  discussed before  the  next  match, the  lessons   from these  must  be  learnt this  will  enable Burnham to  improve  in the areas where they  lost  so  much  ground on Saturday. The main point of effort is not on the field of play it lays in the area of commitment to the side. Burnham 2nds are well capable of finishing in the upper echelons of this league that  in  its  self is high tribute coming up  in their first  season on promotion; the  question to  be  asked  of  us  all is  do  we  have  the credibility to  achieve this position. This can  be  achieved but needs for  the  rest  of this  season total commitment from all  squad  members to  focus on support to  the  side  week  in week  out.
We  have  now  played our two  most  difficult games; we  need  to put  these  behind us  and  look  forward; all  remaining games on the  fixture list are winnable by the  squad  that  we have; all  that  remains for  us  to  is JUST DO IT!!

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