2s Triumphant at Burnage

Arriving at Burnage RUFC, Collegiate were confronted with an artificial surface, despite hearing a lot about how it plays, it was the first time many of the team had played a competitive game of rugby on it.

However this apprehension was not evident in the opening 10 minutes were Collegiate found themselves camped in the Burnage 22, with some dominant scrumming and incisive breaks from the forwards. Daragh soon kicked 3 points from a penalty awarded under the posts. This was then followed after the kick off with Collegiate taking the ball back to the Burnage 22 and after a few big carries falling short of the line, the ball was distributed wide and Mike Murphy eventually bundled over to give Collegiate a deserved 8-0 lead.

The subsequent conversion was missed and this seemed to spark a shift in emphasis, Burnage began to force penalties through patient attacking rugby and asserted their superiority in the line-out. The home side began to dominate using driving mauls to punish the visitors, eventually resulting in walking the ball over the Collegiate try line. This however came too late for Burnage, and they went in at half time 3 points behind, as the Collegiate defensive line held firm for the remainder of the half.

Half Time: 5-8

The Burnage threat continued at the beginning of the second half and a few break-a-ways seemed to look certain tries but resilient scramble defence from Collegiate held them short of the line. Burnage then went ahead from another driving maul from an imposing line out. The conversion was again missed and making it 10-8 to Burnage.

Another threatening Burnage attack resulted in the Collegiate captain being sin binned having deliberately knocked the ball on and kicked the ball away. It seemed as if the victory was going to slip from the grasp of the away side, especially when Burnage scored another try from the resulting penalty. However the conversion was missed making the score 15-8.

The game took another turn when a Burnage attack from the kick off presented them with and overlap out wide and a try again looked likely, however outside centre Andy Alexander cleverly anticipated the pass and intercepted. The Burnage full back had advanced to the attacking line and it was an 80 meter foot race to the posts, which Andy won. Daragh slotted the conversion levelling the scores. 15-15.

This breakaway try demoralised Burnage and this was compounded by Collegiate regaining 15 men on the pitch after the sin bin. The away side didn’t look back for the last 20 minutes of the game, keeping Burnage camped in their own 22, with dominance of the scrum and re-gained composure in the line out. This dominance by the Blue and Blue forwards resulted in numerous penalties, some of which were missed, however a penalty edged Collegiate ahead. Shortly after relentless pressure led to a try Pete Day crossing the line practically unopposed after a break from the back line and some controlled phase play. This try was converted to make the score 25-15

Collegiate managed territory well in the last 5-10 minutes, not letting their opposition leave their half, and every time Burnage tried to run the ball out, errors were forced by a determined defensive line. The full time whistle went and resulted in the 2nd team’s first win of the season in a very challenging league.

The referee thanked the players for the spirit in which the game was played, and this was appreciated by both teams who played their part in a close, competitive game.