Burnham seconds travelled to Glastonbury on Saturday  the  19 Feb  to meet  Tor.
There  is always  something  spooky  about  travelling to  Glastonbury it may  well  be  that Phalanx  symbol  the  overlooks  the  entire area who  knows. Burnham  seconds had  other thoughts  of  retribution, in that the  form  that they  had  revelled  in previously games seemed to  have  deserted  them, having  suffered  four  defeats, albeit  to  hands  of  worthy  opponents. However  skipper  Matt Slater had  an  impressive array  of  talent  in  his  armoury to  put  on  display  this  week with a  very  encouraging  turnout  of  the  second pool  for  this  game. Back  into  the order  of  battle  came  Dave  Harris,  Mike Edwards, Rob  Lewis, Matt Love, Marc Smith,  Graham Southway and  more.

It  was  therefore with  a  light  step  that Burnham  travelled  to  meet the bogymen  of  Tor.
After a very  positive warm  up  the  game  got  underway, Tor had  requested support  with  players,  Burnham obliged with  Glen Cutter and  Ed Lewis who incidentally played quite  outstandingly  for  the  whole game in opposition. Due  to  the  short fall all scrums  were  to  be  uncontested a situation that  was  to Burnham’s  detriment as  the  game  was  to progress.

Tor  was  certainly  up  for  the game  and  started  off very  impressively  indeed. The  shortfall  in  the  scrums  went  unnoticeable  as  Tor ripped through  Burnham  with a vengeance. This  had  a  very  unsettling  effect  on Burnham as  Tor  was  camped  in the  Visitors  22  for  a  long  period. Burnham  just  seemed  incapable  of  kick  starting  their  game. They  were  continually  drawn  into  breakdowns in unnecessary  numbers, which  left  gaps  in  the  defence , which Tor exploited,  to  their  advantage. It  was  against  the  run of play  that  Matt love through  a  well  set  up  forwards set  piece  broke  out  to  score the  try  which went  unconverted Burnham  ahead by  the  skin of  their  teeth, and under  pressure.

Their  was  much  annoyance  in the  forwards who  were a  seasoned  bunch, as  to  the  inability to  get  their  mojo  working, this was compounded  by  the  fact  that  Tor  scored  twice  in reply  to  Burnham’s  early start. As  the  first session loomed  to  an  end Burnham  were  beginning  to  look a  bit  despondent.
Halftime Burnham  12 -5 down  and  much  to  discuss. Skipper Matt  Slater, Backs  Guru Lee  Berry and  scrum half  Mike Edwards put the  solutions  on  the  line, every  one  looked  up  with  a  steely glint of  determination as  the  second half  commenced.

It was a different  side  that  resumed, substitions  had  been  made, Mark  Smith  a  long time absentee came  on Ben  Brockett  had  come  on  for  an  injured  Dave  Harris who  had  played  an  outstanding  half and  Graham  Southway (Ginge) came  on for  Will , Gilly  Hicks  had  slithered  side ways  to  allow  the Forward subs to  get  on. It  was  a  new  Burnham  side  that  started. Game  on, as per  the  game  plane  Burnham  drove  in with  pick  and  go  from Ben  and  Mark  Smith  with  support  in  the  form  of  mobile pods from the other  forwards Ashley,   Peters, Mark  Coles  and  Ben were  effectively creating  the impact  to wear down  Tor  into  making  defensive  errors  resulting  in Matt  Love scoring a  further  two  try’s.

This  high continued when  Ginge  run in the  best  try  of  the  day with  a  very  impressive  hand  of  and some very  determined  running  which  inspired  the  entire  team.

Burnham  were  at  this  stage  very  much  in the  driving  seat, the  forwards  had  found  their  niche and  were  driving  down  phase  after  phase  of  attacking  platform  rugby some impressive  play  was  produced  by  Mark  Coles, Mark  Smith, Matt  Slater, Ben  Brockett and  Gilly  who  had  re-emerged  on  the  field  of play, in defence  Ryan  at  full  back  was  again  demonstrating his  trade mark  actions  of  turning defence  into  attack  by  some  fine  running, Peters  who  was  playing  open side  flanker was  creating attack  after  attack  by  some   fine  linking  up  of  forwards to  backs; Ben  Brockett  had  moved  into  the backs  with  Rob  Lewis  who  were making  a formidable  twosome  in the  centres. This work  paid  of  when  Tom at  Blind side flanker demonstrated the  benefit of  supporting  play  by  picking  up a  fine  try  under  the posts, converted  by  Ginge.

The game  continued  in  this mould and  is  was  unfortunate  that  Matt  Love  was not permitted to add  to  his cache when  a try  was  disallowed.

This  was  a  fine  performance  by  Burnham who  came   from  behind  to  produce  such  a quite  explicit performance in the  second  half . Burnham  will  have  learnt a valuable lesson today that  the  game  is  not   won until  it  is  played.

The travelling  spectators  went  home  singing which  is  very  encouraging.

All  players  are  to  be  congratulated.

Training on Thursday;  opponents on Sat  week  is  yet  to  be  confirmed. All must make  themselves  available.