Burley II XV XV Versus Halifax III XV
5th April 2008
1 Pete Shaw 2 Tom Barnes 3 Adam Wider
4 Jim Griffin 5 Darren Grey
6 Julian Broster 7 Elliot Viles 8 Andy Lacey
9 Jonny Baker
10 Tim Betts
11 Dan Morrell 12 Gavin Leeman 13 Aaron Ralph 14 Ian Anderson
15 Will Broomfield
The Bench
16 Karl Heywood 17 Kenny Parsons 18 Stuart Nichols 19 Duncan Elsey
20 Rob Stone 21 Alex Gerrard
After last weeks disappointing performance against Corinthians, Burley had a point to prove this week. As usual a great turnout for the 2nds meant that we had strength in-depth on the bench. Earlier in the season Burley had taken 14 men up to Halifax only to be trounced 94-0 by what was described as "a piss take from there mixed first and seconds, not there thirds" by an always eloquent Skipper Jim Griffin. As per, Burley were playing on the pitch next to Vesper Gate pub which never has a high scoring game played on it, the same would happen today. The warm-up was long and used to get the players sufficiently focused on the game at hand. Halifax came strolling onto the pitch wearing Red (a point I will come back to) looking quite confident but without a hooker it would be uncontested scrums. Looking for a volunteer, Burley soon found a willing player to don a Halifax shirt, Fraser Stuart being that man brought it back to contested.
Burley won the toss and decided to play uphill for the first half. Halifax kicked the game off and found the waiting arms of Elliot Viles who charged in with a passion supported by the returning Julian Broster, Skipper Jim Griffin and Tight Head Prop Adam Wider. The game started well for Burley who made yards quite quickly only to find silly mistakes ruing every chance. Halifax had the advantage of the slope and when in possession of the ball ran hard at the Maroons defensive line only to be met with fierce tackling from the both the forward and backs. It soon dawned on me that the Red shirts of Halifax was having a Bull-like effect on the Burley mob as they chopped down players left and right, making sure they knew they were in for a hard game.
Some time into the half Halifax made a break for the line, their winger in full flight heading straight for the corner. In his way stood Gav Leeman and Aaron Ralph who pounced on him like Hyenas and ragged him into touch mere yards away from the try line. The resulting line-out was won by Darren "Bird-man" Grey and Burley subsequently cleared their lines from a kick by Tim Betts. Another attempt saw one of their centers break for a gap in the defensive line, if it were not for his greediness and a joint tackle from Ian Anderson and Will Broomfield they surely would have broken the deadlock. A few stupid penalties were given away but Halifax always resorted to kicking the ball rather than take their chances running at the Maroons and having their spines broken. Dan Morrell did a sterling job collecting many of the Halifax kicks that came his way and ran like a man possessed swaying in and out of challenges made by the away team to bring the blonde man down.
Burley dominated every scrum, time and time again the Halifax pack would push only to forced back up the hill by the impressive Burley pack. Premium Hooker Tom Barnes did his job immensely constantly giving the opposition hooker a run for his money and managing to win the ball on quite a few occasions. Half time was called and the score was deadlocked at 0-0. Skipper Jim Griffin brought the boys in for the team talk stating that now they had the advantage and reminding them that the game was far from won. This was true but also true was the fact that Burley had stopped them from scoring at every opportunity and now it was their turn to run at Halifax
A few changes saw Rob Stone and Alex Gerrard brought into the fold. Burley started where they had left off constantly hitting the Halifax players with tackle after tackle. One such tackle saw Adam "Rhino" Wider go in and nearly atomize the opposing player. Good jumping from Jim Griffin in the line-outs saw Burley turn the ball over and rampage up the pitch. Mauling was also top notch in the 2nd half after making the mistake of committing too many players to them in the 1st the Burley pack were enjoying themselves and you could see it. It was great weather for Rugby and the rampaging Burley soon found themselves with an opportunity to score. Adam Wider running the ball in and offloading to Fellow Prop Pete Shaw only to see the clumsy buffoon Knock the ball on and a scrum awarded. That mistake only galvanized the home teams desire to score and sure enough they did. Johnny Baker Scrum Half supreme took the ball from the ruck and charged himself along the Halifax line and drew 2 players with him, A quick little grubber kick from him saw Tim Betts run through the Gap created. The Halifax Fullback Panicked and watched as Tim kicked the ball through his legs and drop on the ball to give Burley the score they had coveted from the beginning of the half. He was not so lucky with the kick sending it just wide to make the score 5-0 in Burleys favor.
More changes saw Kenny Parsons and Karl Haywood join in the fun as Jim Griffin stated that a try either way would turn this match on its head and they would have to work. Halifax came at the Maroons with a new inspiration charging at every chance and being rebuffed by the Burley line. The pack made them work for the ball in every scrum and turned the ball over more times than not, It was fair to say that the Halifax pack although heavy just didn't have the stones to shift the tight, heavy Burley pack. A few high tackles during the match made the Ref call in the captains on a couple of occasions to say that anymore the offending player would be binned and also that any back chatting would also carry the same sentence.
With 3 minutes to go Halifax made one last attempt to win the game. 10 Yards from the line they made their move the Scrum Half passing to the center who found a cap and made for the line. He was met by Jim Griffin who dived at him like an Eagle would at a rabbit and made the game saving tackle and holding him up. Halifax decided to put more pressure on but found the resistance was too much and gained a penalty which they kicked out of bounds. The ref blew for full time and put a few smiles on the Burley players' faces as they knew they had deserved the victory. The win takes recent results to 5 wins out of the last 7, a great record if you ask me. Man of the Match was try scorer Tim Betts. Respect due to Halifax as they moaned a lot but never gave up and gave us a good match.
P.Shaw