As the old adage says – A win is a win as Hoppers 2’s maintain their unbeaten start to the defence of their league title…
On a warm and sunny day the Hoppers team set about their task with gusto taking the play to Burnage straight from the Kick Off – unfortunately ill discipline meant they came away without scoring and from the penalty Burnage got a foothold in the game, put some phases together, which resulted in them scoring out wide and taking a 5-0 lead.
This seemed to spur Hoppers into action and again they took the game to the opposition with Austin, Murphy and Flynn making inroads into the Burnage defence creating space for Anthony Elliott to score in the corner.
The game settled into a familiar pattern with mistakes coming from both sides and Hoppers trying to capitalise on the ball they had. Before half time the home side capitalised on their strong defence, utilised quick turnover ball and fashioned two well worked scores from Alex Austin and Chris Gale, the latter bullocking over from 15 metres out. With the conversions missed the score was 15-5 at the break.
The heat started to take its toll and the 2nd half continued in much the same way as the 1st half with both sides making breaks but failing to capitalise on them. To their credit Hoppers were constantly trying to run the ball and create chances but too often they were let down by the last pass or some committed defence from the visitors. Hoppers did manage to cross the line twice more with well worked tries from Matt Conway and Matt Neary and, as the game entered the final few minutes, the home side were sitting comfortably on a 25-5 lead. Burnage rallied themselves for one final attack and after several close drives managed to squeeze over in the corner making the final score 25-10 to the home side.
With an away trip to League new boys Wilmslow up next, the squad will be looking to work hard this week to bring together various elements of the game plan together and really start to play the brand of rugby that saw them clinch the league last season…
@JY75
