Burnham at last showed what they can do.Wadebridge arrived at the BASC ground in 4th place in the league.However in the first half Burnham were the only team in it,with notable first XV debuts from Scott Beard Sam Everitt and Mitchell Kingston.Burnham started at a furious pace displaying their intent from the off and within a short space of time they were awarded a penalty in the red zone.Having already shown that their scrummaging was superior to the Camels,they elected to scrum for the penalty.From this position they shunted their way forward providing Ross McKechan the opportunity to touchdown.5-0.Unfortunately a few minutes later Burnham lost skipper McKechan after a head collision,requiring 7 stitches,and at the same time losing Muskett temporarily.On came Kingston and Tom Wall and Burnham’s tenacity and committment carried on with determination,proving that these days it is an 18 man game.
Burnham’s tackling,scrummaging and support play continued in the same vein and eventually Burnham produced a flowing move,with both backs and forwards,culminating in Pike attacking his wing before releasing a marauding Sam Everitt on his inside to storm over the line.Ward converted.12-0.
Just before halftime,Burnham yet again set out with memerising support play and awareness until Scott Beard stepped up to skip and swerve his way through,thereby proving the old theory,if you are good enough you are old enough.17-0.
Disappointingly,Burnham displayed their other side in the second half,firstly,discipline giving away an unneccessary penalty,which Wadebridge gratefully accepted,17-3,secondly,poor tackling,going in too high,allowing Wadebridge’s No.8,who was a very good player,to create a big enough hole for their hooker to stroll round the outside and score close to.17-10.Finally on the final move of the game Wadebridge spotted a gap left by Burnham,astutely kicked forward,enabling thei winger to touchdown in the corner.Up stepped their standoff to slot over the conversion to allow them to get away with a draw.Heartbreaking for Burnham as for all those watching as they all knew Burnham were the better side on the day.On the bright side Burnham were able to give a glimpse of the future with 13 of the squad 24 and under.
Well done Burnham.A magnificent effort.
Captains report
Really positive performance today fellas. That first half of rugby was one of the best I’ve seen at the club in the last few years. A powerful scrum, an efficient lineout, hard runners and solid defence. We completely dominated the half and played some quality rugby. In the second half, Wadebridge had their spells but some of the defence was still solid and the work rate was generally very good. I thought Tom Stevens was quality today and led from the front, when myself and kiwi were off. We were robbed in the last play of the game by a jammy try and a class kick, which prevented us from getting the first win of the season. In those final minutes, we needed to show a bit more composure to see the game out but we didn’t. It was class to see so many young fellas put on the jersey today. Mitchell Kingston, Scott Beard and Samuel Everett were immense today and thoroughly impressed with their work rate and skill sets! Well done boys and welcome to first team rugby.
No training Tuesday but we will be having a shorter session on Thursday from 7pm to around 8pm, before holding a players meeting. Please make the effort to train and/or attend the meeting so we can discuss the season so far and make plans for the next stint of games, up until Christmas.
Thanks again to all the supporters , who continue to cheer us on. Our next game is on the 21st October in St Austell and it would be good to get as many people on the bus as possible.
Ross Cameron