Burnham-on-Sea 2nd 41 Wyvern 15.
Burnham Seconds travelled to Taunton to open their account for the new season to play Wyvern. This side had been very successful last season finishing in the top echelons of Somerset 3 South, never the less the Burnham side was well prepared and skipper Matt Slater had a generous amount of talent at his disposal.
The game got underway and it was clear that Wyvern were intent on continuing in the same mould as they had show last season. In the early clinches it was obvious that they had not taken into account that Burnham were up for a game of rugby and that the home side were not to have it their own way. Burnham was fielding a good balance of the old and experienced along with some of the new up and coming young players and in the early stages it was obvious that a settling in period was happening, as the game progressed it all began to gel.
Burnham were first to open the game up by a fine try from Will Conway which went unconverted this was matched by Wyvern. As the game progressed a good combination of forward play resulted in Ryan Jones celebrating his return to the side by snatching a fine try from 10 M out. This also went unconverted. The home side again raised their game and clawed back a try to level the scores moving in to half time. Burnham were beginning to ooze confidence Scrum Half Mike Whitfield was creating havoc with exploiting bursts of play Rod Lewis in the centre was creating openings with his forward rushes at the Wyvern defence; meanwhile in the pack Podge, Ryan and Tom Wall were making their presence felt.
At the half time analysis it was identified to up the tempo play the ball wide and use the speed of the backs to break Wyvern down. The game restarted in exactly the way that had been discussed. Burnham were getting numbers to the breakdowns quicker and distributing the ball quickly this flurry certainly caught Wyvern out and a tsunami of tries flowed from the Burnham ranks Rob Lewis crossed the line, Will Conway stepped up and converted. Almost immediately from the kick of with Burnham on the attacked a penalty was awarded Will Conway stepped and pocketed that one as well Bobby Hewlett who was outstanding crossing the line on three occasions certainly made his mark on the game again Will Conway took a further 2 conversations the points board was racking up the points in Burnham’s favour. It seemed that Wyvern had simple ran out of steam.
In the closing stages of the game a pick and go scenario that had worked so well for Burnham saw the skipper Matt Slater get to within grabbing distance of a try when he was brought down which resulted in a turnover ball as Wyvern mounted their final attack on Burnham, Wyvern had made a number of substitutions and in the centre they were dangerous this final assault paid of as they crossed the line. Alas they failed to convert.
Final Score
Burnham 41 Wyvern 15.
Burnham players can take a lot away from that game it was a very credible team effort.