Burnham-on-Sea 2nd 50 Wellington 7
Burnham Seconds travelled to Wellington on Sat 03 December to engage in yet another league clash; the hosting side being Wellington. Burnham were flush in the aftermath of a vital friendly against old rivals Bridgewater Albion the previous Saturday which had resulted in a very good win for Burnham. With their sights firmly set on a place in Somerset South two next season this was a very good benchmark of the playing capability of this current successful Burnham 2XV side.
The team Captain was missing a number of key players when the roll was called; but never the less Matt Slater had a good squad to choose from. This season has reaped the benefit of a consistent squad of players that have gelled very well as a unit which is capable of producing an all round cohesive unit performance on a regular basis. The build up to the game was energetic the all familiar “before action brief” was given by skipper Matt Slater and the official get the game under way.
Wellington are in the lower echelon of the table but judging by their start one would wonder why, they were fielding a good well drilled pack, their line outs were a set piece and they could move the ball in the backs. This initial engagement slowed Burnham down almost to frustration point and on top of this Burnham was playing with a territorial advantage with the incline. Burnham seemed a little lack lustre in the early stages and certainly were not firing on all cylinders even when at around the 15 Minute point Mike Whitfield covered 20 m to cross the line from a forwards turn over to open the Burnham account. Mike converted his fine effort but the game settled into the same routine as before, and continued even when Dan Berry drove over on the left of the uprights at the 25 Min point; with the conversion being snapped up by Mike Whitfield.
Wellington were not allowing Burnham to have it all their own way and were consistent in exploiting mistakes that were being made by the visitors, in particular they were in command of the line outs which gave them possession enabling them to drive into Burnham’s half, it was through some very good defensive work by Rob Lewis, Glen Cutter, Matt Slater, Tom Stevens, Arron Rees, Dave Harris and Ash Morris that much of their efforts were thwarted.
It was from a rally in the Burnham 22 that the backs broke out in a fine move through the hands of Rob Lewis, Lee Berry and Dan Berry which resulted in a fine solo effort by Alex Bowkett the stand off to score under the posts, try Conversion taken; converted by Alex. Burnham was now in the driving seat as the game into the final stages of the first half.
Burnham went into the interval leading but were not satisfied with the overall performance, the next phase of play was analysed taking into account that Burnham were playing against the incline. It was decided that the only place to position ourselves for the next 40 minutes was in the oppositions 22 on the high ground. Substitutions were made Andy Blair swapped jerseys with Mike Smith in the second row and soon after the start Gilly Hicks came on in the front row due to a reorganisation due to injury which saw Glenn Cutter put on his Dinner Jacket and play on the wing.
The second half started with a little more zing and as ordered Burnham camped on the Wellington 22, fitness was beginning to show and the attrition rate inflicted by Burnham was paying off, Blistering runs by Rob Lewis, Alex Bowkett, Lee Berry were paying off. It was from a break out from Scrum Half Whitfield and some neat recycling of the ball from Smith, Ben Bowkett and Morris that the scrum Half found himself performing a dance routine which was a cross between a Highland Fling and NZ Haaka; this obviously enthralled the opposition so much that they were powerless to stop another try by Mike Whitfield the second of what was to be a hat trick for the day. Conversion taken by the scorer.
This was quickly followed up almost from the Kick off when Ben Bowkett collected and drove deep into the Wellington charging forwards which provided a fine platform enabling Dan Berry to finish off an outstanding solo effort; try given converted by Alex. Dan Berry was to finish of his afternoons work with another fine try bringing his bag for the day up to a hat trick.
Burnham were now playing in their comfort zone which was to see some of the better play of the afternoon, Paul was brought on in the front row and set about making his mark. During a maul situation the ball was recycled out to Ben Bowkett who exploded like an Olympic sprinter to score a try under the uprights, his brother paid him the compliment of converting this fine try.
Wellington always had the capability they had a sparking set of centres and some useful back row players these had been kept in line by Burnham’s defensive play, it was during a moment of indiscretion that they were allowed to break out which resulted in their only score of the game.
As the light faded the official who had refereed the game exceptionally called the game to an end.
Another victory to Burnham. This had not been as good a performance as some in the passed. It is easy to be mislead by the score line the team was made to work for it and in some cases such as the lineouts, scrums and mauls we did not perform as well as we are capable off.
Nevertheless victory was ours and must be maintained if we are to be successful in our intent to gain promotion this season. Well done to all who contributed to this victory.
The next league game is against Wells away on 17 Dec. There is a friendly against Morganians on Sat 10 Dec All players are requested to make their availability known to Matt Slater.