After struggling with low player numbers in last week’s breadboard battle, the Second XV were tasked with a daunting trip to Halifax Vandals, affectionately known as Mount Doom. The squad responded with a vengeance, with a stacked fellowship of 25 undertaking the quest.

So it was that a last alliance of men (Alex Crisp), dwarves (Nathan Britz) and elves (Zac Ling) gathered their troops to march on the enemy. One does not simply walk into Halifax, so the team convened at the Old Ball for an on brand second breakfast before embarking on the adventure.

Despite Jayden Lewis’ appalling timekeeping (a wizard is never late, etc, etc) the squad arrived meaning business and negotiated a chilly and wet warm up in the high altitude conditions. After Alex Crisp delayed kick off by delivering War and Peace in a motivational speech, the match got underway.

Burley made an excellent start as Dan Hutchinson, James Everitt and Ben West made thumping hits, while Alex Stannard, George Anderson and Jack Frazer carried well, piling early pressure on the opposition. The pressure told as Zac Ling picked out James Dodson with a cross-field kick, who dribbled it over the line to score.

James Everitt, Owen Martin-Jones and Jayden Lewis stood firm in defence to repel Vandals’ response, eventually presenting Kieron McMahon with the chance to steal the ball on halfway and charge through to score Burley’s second. Zac Ling converted to bring the score to 0-12.

Seeing McMahon’s exhausted state following the burst, Head Coach Alex Smith called on his bench to maintain the high intensity. The likes of Alex David, Kieran Quigley, Luis Dean, Gareth McAndrews and Jack Scholey made important contributions to keep the pressure on Vandals.

However, as the interval approached, the hosts’ size, strength and experience eventually paid off as they drove over the line to narrow the margin to 7-12 at half-time.

Further changes at the break allowed more fresh impetus, as debutant Khalil Aleyne extended the visitors’ lead with an outrageous double chip and chase to run in from 40 metres.

However, despite several vital tackles by Morgan Nicholson and Dan Hardy, Vandals began to gain the ascendancy, scoring twice but missing both conversions to make it a two-point game.

With the match balanced on a knife edge, Khalil Aleyne again came to the fore, powering past several defenders to score, although the try was somewhat unremarkable in comparison to his first.

Luis Dean came within a whisker of adding another but knocked on when diving on his own kick through, with Zac Ling then notching a penalty to put the visitors two scores ahead.

Burley’s defence repelled countless waves of attack as the hosts searched for a turnaround, although their previously outstanding discipline had started to slip. Jonny Tarring exemplified this with a tackle that was several minutes late, leaving the Maroons a man down for the closing stages.

Vandals capitalised with a maul try with the last play of the match, but it wasn’t enough as Burley secured a hard-fought 22-27 victory on the slopes of Mount Doom.