BLACKBURN won on their travels to Cumbria against a Keswick side that looked dead and buried after 30 minutes but came back very strongly to make a real game of this contest.

Burn were slow out of the blocks for the first 10 minutes but Paul Bleasdale started a great 20 minutes with a penalty to opening the scoring.

With a reshuffled pack due to injuries, the forwards began to punch some serious holes in the home defences.

Winning the entire ball and driving forward with every pick up it was all Blackburn.

The first try was scored by Barclay Roberts after some great work by the front eight and Burn continued to drive forward with some solid work by Damo Miller and Doc Marland.

A well worked set piece led to Phil Hesketh scoring the second try, which Bleasdale converted to make it 0-15 to the visitors.

Paul Millea continued to lead from the front and was involved in all the play up front and it was down to his superb offload which led to Burn’s third try scored by Miller, which was again converted by Bleasdale.

Burn continued to push forward and the fourth try was a cracker for young Liam Oldham, who was relishing his new role in the back row.

After a string of offloads and several phases of play involving all the pack, it finally came out to Oldham, who crashed over to score his first try this season and how well deserved it was for a player who has been consistently excellent both in his commitment and play.

Bleasdale converted to make it 0-29 after 30 minutes and that is where the Burn side packed up and went home.

The home side then scored a well worked try which they converted to make it 7-29 and this really spurred them on and Burn were lucky to hold out and just before half time, Barclay was yellow carded.

Keswick then began to move the ball around and Burn were glad to hear the half time whistle.

The second half continued like the end of the first and it was all Keswick but Burn defended resolutely but couldn’t get back the rhythm and dominance that they had.

The home side continued to pressurise but couldn’t break through the solid Blackburn defence.

Late on in the second half, Mike Jones was sin binned for one too many offsides and Bleasdale scored a late penalty to take the score to 7-32, which is how it ended.

Credit must go to the Blackburn side where a lot of players were in unfamiliar positions and a win is a win.