The IIs hosted Taunton IIIs on a bright sunny afternoon at the Pit. The first half started brightly for the visitors. After some concerted pressure Taunton scored in the fifth minute. From the restart it was all Taunton who took control of the game and bossed the pack in the scrum, maul and line out and scored again on the 10 minute mark. However, Burnham hung in and against the run of play managed to create an angle to swing a pass to Thomas Harris who backed himself and ran sixty metres to score. Unfortunately the conversion couldn’t be made 12-5. From the restart though Taunton really took the game by the scruff of the neck and ran in a further three tries before half time, 29-5 at the break.

The break was the chance Burnham needed to regroup and the restart saw the greatest piece of sustained pressure witnessed in the whole game. Burnham pinned Taunton in their own 22 for 20 minutes and effectively turned the tables on the away team. The only break of the half saw Taunton manage to score a converted try on the 66 minute mark. Whilst that was effectively the game Burnham did not give up and carried on playing rugby and pushing Taunton back. Full Time saw Taunton win but they knew they had been in a game that second half.

All the IIs can take heart from this, yes disappointing to lose, but to give Taunton (who have not lost a game for over a year now) a good going over in the second half is something that can be drawn upon for the rest of the season. The pack especially were immense and all the front row players gave as good as they got against a wiley group from Taunton.

A special mention to Scott Mills who made his Stags debut and a great effort to boot.

Next week is a week off with the next game being just up the road away to Morganians on, 29th September.