Burnham 7 Hornets 10 Sat 25 Jan

Hornets Buzz around Burnham.
Burnham 2s hosted Hornets in the town on Sat 25 Jan on what was akin to a local derby. Burnham were eager to continue their winning ways in hope to create a back to back win situation after overcoming high flying Wyvern last week. 
Mother Nature had added her own backdrop for this game by dishing up squall conditions in which to play this game; with near hurricane force wind and rain.
Burnham knew where the strength and weakness of this visiting side lay and with an impressive squad at his disposal the team skipper Jake Evetts laid out his stall. Burnham could not match the girth of the visitors in the forwards but certainly could outstrip them in speed and mobility; a welcome addition was an appearance from Chris Warner released from the press gang of her Majesties Navy for the day.
Burnham drew the short straw and played against the wind for the first half this was the favoured preference; with that the game got underway.
The weather very much dictated how the game would be played the team with the wind would kick into  space and follow; Hornets had seized onto  this and hammered into  the Burnham side; their game is very much forward dominated and they  would have had their way had it  not been for some very  heroic defence; the pack held and disallowed Hornet domination; the backs covered  and  tackled extremely well, this brought the game into  a grind with both sets of forwards locked in; playing into  a wind of hurricane proportion is not the ideal situation to  be  faced with. Burnham continued to absorb pressure until finally Hornets using their only tactic of hammering in; crossed the line, try unconverted.
Despite the disadvantage Burnham put some very good moves together the scrum was beginning to make head way, in the Front row Slater and Collings were exerting more pressure as the  game went on and in the air Osborne and Stevens were in control with an impressive array of throw in permutations that totally controlled the line out. As the half drew to a close Burnham were camped down in the visitors half and all but scored; due to a fine effort by the captain Jake Evett but failed; due to a controversial decision from the official. This saw the half end with Burnham trailing by 5 points.
With the tables reversed it was Burnham’s turn to excerpt the same pressure that they  had sustained very  well in the first  half; the tempo was to  be increased  and maximum use of the  wind  advantage was to  be  exploited. The home side started very well and capitalised on the element advantage; Burnham’s no 9 Tim James exploited every gap Watkins fed the back row with a ball more akin to a Promenade ice cream to catch and control; James and Jo Osgood carried and made good ground; the wings in the form of Nathan Smith and Elliot Donnelly were active in the attack; the pack were locked in the steady grind to drill Hornets out of the game and were succeeding with Warner horn piping around the field of play. With Burnham in control of the play and the visitors shoring up the Burnham onslaught still the try eluded the home side. With every man thrown into the assault Hornets broke out and made ground deep into the Burnham half only held out at this stage by Matt Mitchell and Ryan Reynolds who had replaced Elliot. Hornets’ could smell the line and set up a forwards onslaught and crossed the line, ironically this was the only time in the entire second period that they had entered Burnham’s half. Try unconverted.
Replacement in the form of Lloyd Steward came on for an injured Henry  Bigwood who had played a major part in the pressure excreted on Hornets the game settled back into  the Hornets 22 with push after push being mounted by a very  determined Burnham side who were all playing at top speed; Hornets had no answer to  this and it  was more the  weather conditions that thwarted a Burnham score than the visitors; It was Ryan Reynolds who finally broke the dead lock who crossed the line after continual pressure try converted by Matt Mitchell.  
The clock eventually won the game for Hornets as the official drew it to closure.
This was an extremely frustration game for the Home side as it should have ended in victory; that is not to say that an extremely spirited and focused effort was displayed by all. Well Done.
The 2s next game is away to Ivel Barbarians on 08/02/14 watch out for game info on Facebook/ text  from Chris  Jones.