Burnham emerged winners from an exhilarating tussle played at times at a frenetic pace,on a hot,breezy day,which somewhat played into Burnham’s hands because of their superior set play.Burnham started against the wind and after some early sparring Burnham were awarded a penalty try due to Torquay’s transgressions on the line,earning themselves two yellow cards in the process.7-0.Torquay came straight back and after gaining good possession a swift little grubber kick was neatly gathered to score 7-7.Burnham immediately retaliated  securing good lineout ball after a penalty,recycled,out to Vunipola to execute his trademark runaround before releasing Russell Pike to score in the corner.12-7.Back came Torquay after Burnham had been penalised for going over the ball.12-10.However Burnham persisted in keeping it tight against the wind and were awarded another penalty try after further infringements by Torquay,19-10,which Torquay reduced by 3 points just before the break.19-13.Half time.From the restart Torquay realised that they too had to keep it tight against the elements and after five minutes they produced a strong drine to rumble over 19-18.Next up another lineout after a penalty,yet again Torquay infringed,quick tap to Mike Hocking who bulldozed over fro 5 metres to restore Burnham’s advantage.26-18.Still the seesaw continued and after a break by the Torquay No.10 they reduced the deficit again.26-25.Burnham’s set play then set up a purple patch.Firstly after the third scrum in succession,because Torquay still persisted in infringing,costing them another yellow card,Burnham drov forward enablibg Stuart Blake to pick up and scramble over.33-25.Secondly by driving Torquay’s scrum back whereupon the ball squirted out sideways and Luke Gowan reacted quickest to record his first ever try for the firsts.40-25.Straight from the kickoff Burnham setup possession so that Hayden Tuttiet was able to produce a clever box kick which bounced awkwardly so he was able to capitalise in his follow up to score in the corner.47-25.Piper netting his sixth conversion.Perhaps Burnham relaxed too much as Torquay’s No.10 had the last word by out pacing the Burnham defence to round out the game.47-10.Burnham’s faithful supporters were treated to another try fest and if Burnham are able to despatch Truro this coming Saturday they will finish fourth.A highly satisfactory result considering this was their first year in this league.Well done Burnham.

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