Hakes Lose Out to Burnham

Burnham-on-Sea 26 v 22 St Ives

The St Ives 1st XV travelled to Burnham-on-Sea last Saturday for what was their furthest trip of the season. Coach Paul Thirlby was forced to travel without several regular players. Martyn Lawrance, Steve Kenward, Liam Jolly and Jamie Hoskin were all unavailable. Recalled to the squad was Sam Heath who returned on the flank. Grant Thirlby was drafted into the scrum half berth and Paul Thirlby to the centre.

St Ives began the game in confident style following the back to back wins against St Austell and Tiverton. The game was only two minutes old when Jordan Gott continued his good kicking form when he converted a penalty chance to give the Hakes an early lead.

Only three minutes later St Ives doubled their lead, when their confident start to the game forced the home side into another error, which was penalised. This allowed Gott to kick another three points from the penalty.

Despite the dominant start from St Ives, Burnham defended their line resolutely and prevented the Hakes from scoring any tries during the first quarter of the match. Their organised defence, however was penalised twice more by the referee allowing Gott to punish them with two more converted penalty chances to give St Ives a well-deserved lead with 20 minutes gone.

The second quarter of the first period saw Burnham manage to break out of their own half and show some attacking moves. The home side got their first points of the afternoon when the referee penalised the St Ives scrum. Fly half, Tim Piper, kicked the points to make the score Burnham 3, St Ives 12.

The longer the first half wore on the more the home side came back into the match and in the 39th minute after creating some pressure of their own converted another penalty chance from the boot of Piper to make the score at the half time whistle Burnham 6, St Ives 12.

The second half began with the resurgence from the home side continuing. Another penalty in the 41st minute allowed Piper to bring the home side to within 3 points of the St Ives score. Only 3 minutes later a mix up in the St Ives defence allowed Burnham through to score the first try of the match, and put them ahead by 16 points to 12, when Tom Stevens crossed, with Piper adding the extras.

Another Piper penalty in the 51st minute stretched the home sides lead to 7 points to put the Hakes further under pressure at 19 points to 12. It wasn’t until the 56th minute that the St Ives players managed to get their hands on the ball and begin to put some pressure on the Burnham defence once more. Paul Thirlby crossed for a try, following some good work from the St Ives back line and Gott converted to level the scores at 19 points each.

Another penalty from Gott in the 61st minute gave St Ives hope of going on to claim the victory, but the home side had other ideas. With some enthusiastic support from the home crowd, the Burnham players pushed forward and, only 2 minutes after the Hakes had re-taken the lead, scored their second try of the match. It was converted by Piper to put the home side ahead by 26 points to 22.

The referee brought the game to a close with no further score to give Burnham their second victory of the season.

St Ives are back in action this coming Saturday when they welcome league leaders Truro to Alexandra Road. Kick-off is scheduled for 2:30pm. Any support would be very welcome.

St Ives : James Bishop, Ben Taylor (Captain), Ben Jenkins, Jamie Prisk, Harry Parton, Sam Heath, Sean Stevens, Archie Mackay, Grant Thirlby, Jordan Gott, Peter Skeggs, Paul Thirlby, Tom Nicholas, Peter Mabbott, Lewis Thomas.

Replacements : Joe Rouncefield, Joel Stevens, Jonathan Wright.