Burnham defeated Keynsham to secure their place in the Western Counties League for another season.

Burnham 15 pts

Keynsham 10 pts

BURNHAM entertained Keynsham in front of a good sized crowd, knowing they needed to win to secure their tenure in the Western Counties League for another season.

Burnham kicked off with the elements in their favour and within three minutes, Keynsham were caught napping enabling Tim Piper, playing his last game for Burnham’s first XV, to kick a penalty.

For the next 30 minutes, Keynsham’s forwards kept pressing, while Burnham’s backs, living on scraps, made substantial breakouts, until Keynsham’s pack power were rewarded with a penalty try after Burnham’s third offence in the red zone.

Burnham’s plan for the second half was to to keep the ball in hand, but it took them 20 minutes to finally break through Keynsham’s defence. For once, Burnham managed to secure a clean line-out and after two quick phases, Henry Bigwood slipped into the gap and scored under the posts, Piper converted for a 10-7 lead.

Keynsham instantly replied with a penalty kick, but shortly after this, the match had to resort to uncontested scrums, two of Burnham’s props were injured and unable to continue.

After a good spell of pressure, Burnham were awarded a scrum seven metres out and Wikiteria picked up at the base, drew the opposition, before releasing Beau Dickens to crash over.

With 10 more tense nail-biting minutes remaining, Burnham’s heroic defence kept Keynsham at bay to secure the victory.