Western Counties Division (West)

Bude 22

Burnham-on-Sea 20

STRUGGLING Bude ground out a vital 22-20 victory over a spirited and determined Burnham-on-Sea on a beautiful afternoon at Bencoolen Meadow to earn their first win since the opening day of the season.

The match began disastrously for the home side; Bude had the Burnham scrum retreating at an alarming rate of knots when the ball squirted out the side, giving the Burnham scrum-half, Ed Lewis, the opportunity, with the Bude flankers committed to the scrum, to scoot down the blindside and engineer a breathtaking length of the field try. Tom Piper was the eventual scorer but he had a simple run in after purposeful running and deft interpassing had created a huge hole in the Bude defence. An excellent try, albeit aided by some woeful tackling.

Worse was to come when a badly directed and ill thought out clearance kick by Ollie Denford, who otherwise had a strong game, gifted Burnham a second try. Luckily for Bude both tries, one rather controversially, went unconverted after both touch judges had agreed that the kick had gone over the posts. The referee, Marc Simon, thought otherwise.

Ten points down so early on jolted Bude into action and their scrum time dominance then allowed them to claw their way back into the game. It wasn’t pretty rugby but it was mightily effective and the two penalty tries they were awarded after the Burnham scrum had been shredded close to their line were just rewarded. Both tries were converted by Dan Pearce, who further added to Bude’s lead with a penalty given as a result of Bude’s forward power.

With the wind now behind them and a seven point half-time lead, Bude could scent an end to their losing streak, but once again a lack of concentration coupled with sloppy defence was their undoing as they allowed a revitalised Burnham to fight their way back into the game with a converted try by winger Lee Vaughan, who adroitly evaded some feeble attempted tackles, and a penalty from Tom Piper.

Bude then stiffened their defence with the introduction of their replacements, particularly the hard tackling veteran Dave Gregory, and although Burnham mounted several concerted attacks running through phase after phase of recycled ball, looking dangerous whenever they moved the ball wide, they could not cross the Bude line. Prominent in the Bude defence were Denford, debutant centre Edward Hilliam-Cooke, James Comber, and Gregory.

The home side sealed the win when following a series of robust forward surges, prop Adam Black barrelled his way over the line from close range. The conversion was unsuccessful but despite having to suffer the disadvantage of going to uncontested scrums a move that severely dented Bude’s attacking options, Bude held out for a welcome win. Burnham’s long journey home was eased by taking with them a losing bonus point, although they now drop below Bude to second bottom, with the North Cornwall side one place and point ahead.

Bude:

Black, Cook, Allin, Kingdon, Vincent (c), Parsons, Fry, Comber, Yates, Pearce, Hilliam-Cooke, Watton, Green, Denford. Reps: Jeffrey, Williams, Gregory

Tries: Black, Penalty tries 2

Convs: Pearce 2

Pens: Pearce

Burnham:

Burnham RFC: Rokena, McKen, Lewis, Driver, House, Cameron, Blake, Gowan, Lewis. Piper, Stacey, Muskett, Holder, Vaughan, Pike. Reps: Allen, Conway, Beard

Tries: Piper 2, Vaughan

Convs: Piper

Pens: Piper