Although Burnham started well with a brilliant try under the posts by Richard Newton which was converted by Robert Carrington it was to be a disjointed performance by the home side.

Dagenham had the advantage with their massive pack on the slippery ground and it was only to be on the firmer areas of the pitch that the Burnham pack were able to equal and take on the Dagenham pack without sliding back while locked out.

Burnham captain Richard Melton and manager Sam Goodbourne were pleased with the spirit of the side and welcomed two new players.

The first making his debut at wing forward was Stewart Guest while a mobile Kiwi prop forward, who made his debut at No. 8, was Tim Blake.

Other notable performances were by Tom Hart and Heath Puxley who were always on the lookout to take the game to Dagenham.

Despite the score line, with a little bit of tidying up, Burnham are lokking to be a team that has excellent potential.

The Burnham RFC fixtures for Saturday are: Burnham I (home) v Rochford II; Burnham II (away) v Rochford Rams; Burnham III (home) v Rochford Stags.

The New Year Youth Rugby Training for Burnham Rugby Club restarts on Sunday, January 10 at 10am finish at 11.30am and every Sunday during the season thereafter at the Dengie Hundred Sports Centre.

The move from training on Tuesdays and Saturday mornings means that it will be easier for Burnham to link in with other clubs for training events and should also increase the availability of coaches to train the future stars of Burnham.

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