Burnham were given an emphatic lesson in scrummaging and rolling mauls by Chard,costing them precious possession and territory.Burnham started well with a quick penalty after Chard were caught offside.3-0.Burnham then were repeatedly let down by lack of discipline costing them 2 tries from Chard,both from rolling mauls after penalty lineouts.3-12.On approaching the half hour mark Burnham put together a flowing move with all involved until finally un leashing Matt Love to race away and score in the corner.8-12.Ten minutes later, after Burnham conceded too many penalties on their own goal line, the referee awarded Chard a penalty try.8-19,followed by a rolling maul that gave them their bonus point,on the stroke of half time.8-24.
At the start of the second half,Burnham pulled up their socks,started to produce the swift rucks and mauls,that were their trademark in the pre-season games,enabling Ash Cutter to pick up from the base,produce a couple of telling handoffs before bursting through tacklesuntil free to run in from 40 metres.13-24.Burnham stayed in the game for the next 35 minutes until Chard scored another pushover try to close out the match.13-31.Final score.
Coach Kevin Innals said,a very disappointing day,we were totally dominated by Chard’s forwards,especially in the scrum
.We did not help ourselves by the lack of accuracy and drcision making in open play,which often ended up in more scrums,loss of possession and field position,which was part of the game we should have dominated.We will be looking for some good sessions this week to prepare for Crediton. Captain McKechan  said that we welcomed a well organised Chard side to the pit on Saturday and enjoyed a hard fought contest.Unfortunately for usthe Chard set piece was lethaland the used it effectively to secure the win.Beyond the scrum,we worked hard in the loose and nullified their attacking options.The only place to improve is the training paddock and we will be working hard to prepare for our next game against Crediton.