Burnage 2nd XV 31 Warrington 2nd XV 15

Two second half tries sealed a good win for Burnage, after Warrington had competed aggressively for the first forty minutes and out-scored the opposition by two tries to one.
It didn’t take long for Burnage to get the scoreboard rattling as, first a converted penalty and then a series of pick-and-gos saw them rumble over for an unconverted try to take a 10-0 lead. Warrington replied when Craig Byrne crashed through the Burnage defence before delivering a deft off-load to Matt Rockey, who took a superb line to touch down and then convert his try.

Burnage then kicked two penalties but Warrington came back again with a penalty of their own, before Matt Bayliss, making a welcome return to the side, powered over from ten yards to yake his side to within one point. However, Burnage then kicked another penalty and the sides turned round with the score 19-15.

The second half saw Burnage starting to turn the screw through their pack, aided by some uncharacteristically sloppy Warrington handling. Although Warrington’s defence, led by Matt Bayliss and Shaun Yoxhall, was heroic, they were unable to halt the juggernaut and two trie from Burnage, one of which was converted, saw the Manchester side eventual winners by 31 points to 15.

“We believed we were in with a chance in the frst half,” confessed skipper Shaun Yoxhall. “Unfortunately, Burnage had other ideas. Still it was a good all-round performance, with excellent individual performances from Matt Bayliss, Matt Rockey and the two winger, Andy Almond and Kieran Jones.”