A tale of two halves

Despite missing key players for the second week in succession, Bourne were buoyed by the return of skipper Tom Dixon (sponsored by The Moorings) and looked to have put their early season woes behind them as they took the early lead against Birstall.

Enjoying early possession Bourne put the visitors under pressure and having worked their way to their opponent's try-line they took the first chance available to cross and take points. Having failed to collect any points the previous week this was a welcome break for the home side. It was assistant coach Ian Knight, called in to prop for the game, that took his opportunity and he looked to have done enough to inspire his teammates. A short while later Bourne's pressure brought about a penalty which, despite being on the halfway line, scrumhalf Sam Evison (sponsored by Moon & Evison Ltd) converted with ease.

With the gap widening, Birstall seemed to finally shake off their journey and quickly grew into the game. They got off the mark with a penalty of their own but this was cancelled out by another addition by Evison before Birtsall struck again, this time adding a try of their own as their winger rounded the Bourne defence to dot down.

Midway through the half, centre Josh Lynch (sponsored by Dave Maudsley) was given a rest to nurse a damaged eye which brought the welcome return of Sam Thornburn (sponsored by Trevs Tyres) having recovered from a knee injury. Lynch had carried well until this point but the side weren't weakened by Thornburn who looked powerful in attack. Thornburn's input was limited, however, as he received a yellow card which clearly put the hosts at a disadvantage. Bourne looked bemused by Thornburn's sin-binning and a string of other decisions that then went against them and despite their endeavours throughout the first half their discipline started to crack. There didn't look to be much between the two sides and as the final minutes of the first half became increasingly scrappy it wasn't surprising that Birstall added another penalty to end the first half 11-all.

Bourne were forced to change influential wing Rob Bentley at the interval as he appeared to have been concussed on the verge of half-time and Lynch returned to the field to replace Thornburn whose injury issues seemed to once again be flaring up. Despite Birstall's revival towards the end of the first half Bourne turned round confident they had enough in the tank to take the game away from their visitors. But the scrappy nature of the game continued and Bourne did not respond well. Dixon received a yellow for foul play and before he'd had chance to return to the game Lynch was also sin-binned. With just thirteen men on the field Bourne had their work cut out and Birstall were quick to take advantage taking the score to 16 - 11. The pressure was too much for Bourne and despite the return of Dixon they also leaked a couple of penalties allowing Birstall to widen the gap further.

At 22 - 11 down, though, Bourne felt they could match their opponents and once Lynch had returned the side to the full quota they set about a comeback. But a fourth yellow card, to second row Ant Cooke (sponsored by Bakkavor) sealed their doom as they continued to play at a numerical disadvantage. Birstall crossed once again in the dying minutes of the game and finished with the game 27 - 11. With regular props Chris Greenwood and Jake Appleby (sponsored by KCW Windows) missing it had been down to Knight and second row Bradley Hiscocks to plug the gaps but with the various sin-binnings the set-piece was made to suffer. Not match fit Knight eventually had to be replaced which meant hooker Harry Thornburn (sponsored by Sion Williams PT) moving to prop and backrow Dan Smith (sponsored by Martin Bradly Body repairs) filling in at hooker. Eventually though Thornburn picked up an injury and Knight was recalled to see out the game. Hiscocks, at prop the entire game, did an admirable job of filling in and was worthy of some credit for his performance.

In the backs Jack Berry (sponsored by Ian Knight Stonework Brickwork), normally fullback, performed well at fly half providing a possible solution to Bourne's issues with finding a regular option there. But with injuries to Thornburn, Bentley and Lynch to add to the absence of Maudsley (sponsored by DT Accountancy) and Fitch, amongst others, Bourne made little progress in an area they have always considered their strength.

Skipper Dixon was blunt after the game, "We weren't good enough. Missing players is not an excuse, particularly as we've been talking about our supposed strength-in-depth, and whoever gets selected has to front up and at the very least be competitive. There were times today where we made simple mistakes, but worse still, there were times where we didn't look like we wanted it - that's unforgivable."

Chairman Ted Thornburn was also realistic about his side's performance on the day, "There's no getting away from the fact that was disappointing. With the greatest of respect to Birstall I thought they were beatable, but for that to have happened we can't play half the game with less than the full fifteen players. Even with some decent players missing we had a side out today who could have and should have got the result we wanted. We didn't agree with a number of decisions but that doesn't excuse how poor we allowed our discipline to be."