Burley V Hornsea
27th October 2007.
The Burley boys travelled to Hornsea this weekend. Team planning had gone out of the window with several key first team players unavailable and several more injuries. The team changed on an almost hourly basis through the week until Saturday morning when a final line-up was decided and the team set off.
A simple game plan was decided upon and a very disjointed Burley team kicked off into the wind. It soon became clear that, despite players in key positions being unfamiliar with each other, Burley were more than competing and most of the opening 15 minutes were played in the Hornsea half. Despite this Hornsea went 3-0 up after a soft penalty and soon afterwards Burley went 8-0 down to try (which wasn’t converted). Neither of these scores was a true reflection of the game with the Burley team creating several chances that were just not finished. In the closing minutes of the half the Burley centre Andy Bissett hacked through a missed pass and collected the ball passing through to Tim Betts to dummy and score near the posts to bring Burley back within 3 points. A much deserved score for a half of good play and some level of domination.
The second half started much like the first had finished with an early opportunity for Burley that wasn’t converted. The half then started a pattern where both teams enjoyed periods of time in the opposition half without converting those visits to points. Burley started to press though and, an interception by centre Andy Bissett led to him scoring a try near the posts , which was converted, giving Burley the lead for the first time in the game. Burley continued to dominate in open play, forcing several mistakes in promising positions. These opportunities were not taken though as the larger Hornsea pack continually wheeled the scrum to take the ball and advantage away from the Burley pack. Hornsea used possession they had well scoring a try, penalty and drop goal and, despite Burley continuing to press and scoring a late try through Ritchie Christie, Hornsea ran out winners by 2 points.
Despite the loss Burley can take real positives from the game. The new faces in the first team all enjoyed strong performances, the pack performed well against a bigger unit and we were dominant in the lineout, with Milosz winning a large percentage of the opposition ball. With more game time together and the return of some key players from injury Burley are building a squad with strength-in-depth and the players who were away this weekend can expect a battle for their places.