Much-needed victory for Burnham

Burnham 60 pts

Stothert & Pitt 19 pts

THIS was a much-needed win for Burnham in front of a reasonable sized crowd, celebrating the opening of their new stand.

Burnham started well, cranking up the pressure until eventually after many phases Luke Gowan forced himself over, converted by Piper. Burnham kept their foot on the throttle with Shaw making good ground before releasing Josh Holder to score in the corner.

By this time, Burnham had the bit between their teeth, resulting in three tries within the space of five minutes. Firstly after two penalty line-outs, followed by clean possession gave the opportunity for Richard Muskett to streak through, converted by Piper.

Straight from the kick-off, Ross McKechan set off on a powerful run, supported by Peters Stevens and finally to Phil Collins, who crashed through over. Again straight from the restart, Wikiteria scattered the opposition before releasing Josh Holder to score out wide.

Just before half-time, Stothert at last managed to put together a passage, scoring from a rolling maul after a penalty line-out to make it 29-7.

In the second half, Burnham carried on from where they left off and after a quick penalty they were able to set Ben Gibb off on a powerful run to cross the line and soon after, Gibb was able to collect his second try.

A swift break by Sam Lewis was recycled out to McKechan before releasing Jordyn Wikiteria to charge over the line, converted by Gibb. A few moments later, Sam Lewis took a quick penalty and was rewarded with a well earned try.

Stothert produced some pressure of their own, only to be foiled by Burnham breaking out from their own line, good work by Piper saw him pass to Russ Pike to run in from the halfway line.

However, in the final 10 minutes Stothert were awarded a penalty try for persistent offending by Burnham and then broke out from their own 22 to scramble over to make the final score 60-19.

Burnham are at home on Saturday against Cheltenham, kick-off 2.30pm.