Burnham-on-Sea 2nd 38 Frome 3rd 3
The Burnham second team faithful’s fell in on Saturday to play the only rugby on the Club card for the weekend to travel to Frome to take on a Frome third select. The skipper Matt Slater had a mixed bag due mainly to the fact that the first team had no game and were other wise disposed. The road to Frome was long but the prospects were worth looking forward to, it was a glorious afternoon for rugby quite the contrast to the previous week.
Prior to the game commencing there was a need to balance the teams due to gaps in Frome; Andy Blair moved into a black white and red shirt to play out the first half, that done the game got underway. It was clear that Frome were a very established side as they seemed comfortable in the execution of their playing moves Burnham on the other hand needed a settle in period; much motivation was undertaken by Lee Berry and the skipper to stabilise the side and get a tempo going to set up some cohesive play.
There was some key tactical play being undertaken by the standoff Ben Bowkett who was to put in a sterling performance and add a formidable conversion points tally before the game was over, all this added to a steady state as the game moved into the first quarter and began to produce results. What was beginning to payoff was the hunting down of the ball by the forwards who were producing support in numbers, Sam Vigers, Ryan Jones, Ben Bowkett were formidable in this role which release some very constructive back moves this paid off when Rob Lewis broke out and with his own style of running crossed the line. Try; converted by Will Conway who again certainly punched his weight throughout the game with his characteristic level of work.
This sudden increase in pace caught the opposition flat footed and a further two try’s were run in by Mike Hocking who was playing on the wing and Adam Peters; playing on the other wing, conversations by Will were added which gave Burnham a very comfortable cushion going into half time.
When the game resumed after the break Frome had called up reinforcements and Burnham pulled back our loaned player Andy Blair. With the injection of pace brought about by the new arrivals Frome began to look menacing and pulled together some fine moves that had it not been for some fine defensive work by the Burnham back row may well have let the home side back into the game. Burnham had gone of the boil and looked lack lustre.
This was rectified by some focused comments and the tempo returned when Will Conway chipped through a kick pass which was collected by Mike Hockings who sprinted to the line to break the second half dead lock. The score line was further enhanced by a fine individual effort by Ben Bowkett who broke out from a maul to score right of the upright. Andy Blair had replaced Ed Lewis in the front row than did an about turn to stand in for the Frome Loose head who came off, Ed had played extremely steadily out of position for most of the game. The front row had performed very well and the steady supply of ball from the scrums via Ashley the hooker was instrumental too much of the running rugby that was witnessed.
With the final whistle Burnham can take much away from this win. They had put together some very entertaining running rugby, players had remained focused in the main and opportunities had been exploited. However it was noticeable and must be addressed the fact that the Tempo went out of the game this may have been to a lapse in the concentration due to the score line.
This is an area that all the side must be aware of as it can let the opposition back into the game.
A good afternoons work by all well done. Next week is home game players should declare themselves available or otherwise to Matt Slater ASP