With the end of Burnham Week and many of the Burnham players committed to sailing it was decided to field a mixed side for the remaining players on Saturday and although the players came from the three sides of last season they seemed to gel well.

From the off the Burnham pack were under pressure from the heavier Rayleigh pack with the home front row of White, Nunn and Marchetto having to bear the brunt of the struggle, while Bache and later Gullen at eight had to cope under difficult circumstances.

Just before half time the Rayleigh stand off dropped a goal to bring the score to 10-0 in their favour.

But Burnham captain Tony Bennett encouraged his troops and at the start of the second half both packs continued the battle under the blazing heat of the sun.

Thanks to the determined efforts of all the Burnham forwards under the guidance of scrum-half Burchell, they provided more clean ball, which the faster Burnham backs of Bennett, Allen and Nunn with Longley and Barclay on the wings.

Two tries followed by Nunn to bring the scores level 10-10.

In the closing quarter of the game it could have gone either way with now both packs exhausted, it was to be Rayleigh's day, as a try followed to bring the final score of 15-10 in Rayleigh's favour.

Although disappointed with the result, Burnham captain Bennett was pleased with how the team pulled together and kept going.

Burnham's first league game is at Ongar on Saturday, while Burnham II host Ongar II.

There were good turnouts for the youth training sessions last week and with more coaches giving time to the and many fixtures planned it is hoped to make it a most successful season.

Any young players wishing to join in will be more than welcome on Tuesday from 6pm till 7.15pm, and Sundays 10am till 11.30am, at the Dengie Sports Centre, Burnham.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.