Match Report Burnham 2XV 37 – Taunton 111 15 22 Mar 14“TAUNTON IN TEARS AS BURNHAM TRY-UMPH”
Burnham 2s travelled to Fortress Taunton on Sat 22 Mar with a bitter taste based on the reception received at last season’s alike fixture. The Burnham blues were of the mind to put this into the right context; this with high expectations and flush with a string of success in the last three games gave for a very positive attitude to the forth coming encounter. A strong unit had been mustered albeit some of the regulars were amiss there was an impressive mix of fast running centres and a fleet fit pack.
Burnham were acutely aware as to how Taunton like to play their rugby; the Burnham plan was to conflict with this, and play to the Blues strengths. The playing surface was sound and in good condition which lent to favour the Burnham game plan.
The official got the game under way and Burnham lost no time in laying out there stall; the early exchanges were of Taunton defending their home territory as Burnham opened the game up to a series of fast paced attacking sequences, combining forwards and backs who were linking extremely well; this pressure paid off as Will Conway drew the defence and created an opening passing to Jake Allen who fed Mason who finished the job; Try unconverted,
Taunton restarted the  game and immediately found themselves with the  same disposition Burnham were breathing fire as they  endeavoured to  set up attacking moves; they  were in the  same territorial area which produced the  previous try, good work by the pack had secured a turn over by Phil Colling which saw J Osgood drive deep into  the  home side forwards with  quick ball recycled by Will Conway to  feed Mason who in turn unleashed Love who bounded out of the  danger area to score under the uprights; try unconverted.
This was followed by a concentrated effort by Taunton to get back into the game; when Burnham allowed the home side to settle into their mode of playing they were dangerous; and during this phase had worked their way towards the Burnham line. Some last ditch defending managed to curtail this effort but it was a wakeup call to the visitors that they must not take their foot of the gas. Burnham’s defence held well and they  began to  exert pressure again on the  home   side brought mainly about playing to  Burnham’s strengths of open running rugby, this gradually edged the visitors down field Alex Watkins at  full back gained some valuable territory with a well-placed kick which  saw Mitchell and Allen corner the full back and dispossess him of the  ball to  feed Mason at pace who crashed through the  reorganising Taunton defence for his second try of the day; converted by Conway.
This score line saw the game into the end of the first half. The Captain; Evett laid down the format for the next period of the game and brought about some changes; Tom Stevens for Chris Jones; Nathen Smith for Mason; Ryan Reynolds for Mitchell; Reese off for Smith. With that completed the game resumed for the second period. It was clear from the restart that Taunton were still in the game and again Burnham let them dictate their modus of play this time it paid off and the home side got on the scoreboard. This resulted in a very comprehensive passage of play which resulted in Taunton adding to the score line.
Again Burnham turned it around and retaliated by coming back into the game this time it was Conway’s turn to put it on; seizing on an opportunity from a consorted period of pressure he exploited a gap in the Taunton defence and pushed through to score; try unconverted. Burnham were keeping their score line ticking over, this was followed up by another phase of pressure which was awarded by a penalty in kicking distance that was taken and scored by Conway; Burnham were pulling away. Despite this Taunton were determined to stay in the game and again came back to score again down the left flank of the Burnham defence; unconverted.
Injury to Matt Glanville brought about changes with Osgood taking on the responsibilities of hooking, Burnham retaliated from the upset of leaking the recent try, and settled down to infiltrate and attacked a now tiring Taunton unit again it was from the centres that a feed to Matt love saw him take the game into orbit as far as Taunton were concerned; converted by Conway.
The taste of victory was sweet and lingered long on the palate of this Burnham unit, the game was a stunning example of a cohesive calibrated unit; with Pack and  backs complimenting each other totally; the service provided by the  pack under at  times; challenging circumstances was top drawer the finishing by the  backs was stupendous. It is difficult to extract a worthy accolade for any one player it was a great team effort.
The next outing for the 2 s is on Sat 29 Mar at home to second place Tor 2s. This will be a testing challenge; in the recent run of games The 2s have laid out the leading teams in the league less the league leaders this indeed will be test match.
It is achievable but will need a large playing base to be available for this home fixture. All 2s players are requested to make themselves available for this fixture; details/ timings TFO.
Training same day’s normal time for all those able to attend.
NB;
The Gulliver’s weekend approaches and the club are in need of volunteers to  make this high profile; highly profitable weekend a success; I will publish the  list  of requirements later on in the  week; please get  this into your diaries and append your name to help out when asked.