It was with a focused sense of purpose that a strong Burnham second XV travelled to Chard on Sat 15 Jan. The taste of victory still lingered in the systems of the victorious side that had so convincingly seen Wellington sent home in tatters last week. The mood was one of much of the same for Chard a side that had already suffered defeat from Burnham this season in October, but nothing should be taken for granted as is the case in Somerset Div 3 when travelling into the enemy camp!
With the starting line up identified the referee, the one who supported the same pink strip worn when on duty in a previous encounter got the game under way on a very wide slightly unlevelled playing field. The home side had elected to play with the territory to there disadvantage for the first 40 minutes, as it was the game commenced.
It was clear from the start that Chard had made changes to the side engaged in the previous encounter and were out to make amends from that previous meeting.
Burnham’s game plan was simple as identified by the captain Matt Slater with a strong set of mobile forwards they were to engage hard and fast enabling the ball to be presented to the well organised and fast set of backs to make appropriate use of the wide pitch. With a full set of substitutions they would be strategically introduced to maintain the pressure in the areas where it looked like Chard wanted to play, mainly within the pack.
During the initial exchanges of play it was obvious that this Chard side really did feel that they could stamp early authority on the run of play, they were playing very close to their pack coupled with a number of attacking backs controlled by a competent standoff they looked dangerous. Good tackling mainly from Caine Harding, Matt Slater and Mat Love and defence play by both backs and forwards from the Burnham side thwarted much of their early attempts. A stale mate was beginning to fall over the game until a determined move from the Burnham backs moved the ball out wide on the right resulting with a grounded pass which was scooped from the ground by Graham Somerhay who ran a fine individual try in ably converted by Dave Harris to ease some of the pressure.
This passage of play brought about a fine phase of play when Will Grant scored a copy cat try; Tom Steven grabbed a fine opportunist try near Chard line which left them looking for excuses and Mike Edwards who was playing a stormer at Scrum half grabbed another. Dave Harris who has a tally of 101 points this season so far converted three of the four tries and added a penalty to his booty for the day. The Match Official sounded half time Chard had not been idle and had pulled back two tries at the break. Burnham felt confident who would not be 29- 14 at the end of the first half.
The half time match analysis identified certain areas of performance, offered remedies but in the main called for more of the same, alas this fell on deaf ears it seems that Burnham were intoxicated with the success of the past 45 minutes and they took to the second half with an apathy that they only had to turn up for the next 45 minutes the game was in the bag!
Chard had no such feelings and turned up the pressure playing to their strength, Burnham was lured into the snare and engaged like for like instead of playing as they had done in the first half. Chard pulled back a try and mistakes by Burnham led to a penalty all points taken by a rejuvenated aggressive Chard side that had totally intimidated the Burnham side.
Burnham really had to dig deep and to their credit they did, substitutions were made, it was crucial to plug up the gaps to stop leaking any more points in a game that was reaching desperation point. The tension was broken by skirmishes of erratic unsavoury play mainly by Chard who by this stage thought they could bully their way to a victory. Burnham used the full range of replacements and they did make an impact Andy Norman threw himself into the fray whole heartedly Ashley the replacement hooker stuck against the head time and time again, Paul the replacement Prop who played down and frustrated an experienced Chard Prop, Jamie who added strength to a tiring second row, by this stage Burnham were in dramatic defensive mode camped in their own 22, pressure gave Chard a final try but try as they might they could not break into the defence to clinch victory.
Full time 29-29.
Burnham has a lot to learn from this game and much to do on the training field to ensure that there is not a repeat performance. Chard was allowed to draw this game and could have so easily been victories had it not been for the Guts and determination showed by the Burnham players this indeed was the encomium of this game.
Burnham has three crucial games in the coming weeks, which will require total commitment from the squad to train and make themselves available. Burnham like Nelson Expects every player to…