Burnley 59

Colne & Nelson 7

BURNLEY began the new year as they had ended 2015 with an emphatic win against local rivals Colne and Nelson.

Just a point seperated the sides the first time they met at the Holt House earlier in the season but it was a totally different story as Burnley ran in eight tries.

Victory, Burnley's 11th in 14 outings this season, sees them close the gap on second-placed Littleborough to two points - although their promotion rivals have three games in hand.

It was a great start to the season for Simon Finnan's side who would have been delighted to see Burnley start extremely quickly with great team work and support play.

First to open the scoring and open his account for the first team this season was Tom Ives.

Next to cross was Gerhard Botha - the first of his four tries - which was converted by Sam Mounsey.

Even with the heavy pitch, the inter play between backs and forwards was extremely good and led to the next try from Adam Wallis, as the ball must have gone through a dozen set of hands with Wallis finishing it off.

Botha got another in this half, again converted by Mounsey.

The final try of the first half had good passing down the back line and Lee Ferrier squeezed through to score under the posts, Mounsey adding the extas.

Burnley had no intention of letting the intensity drop and continued with the great fringe defence with some of the hits were knocking the away side back three or four metres.

The first points of the second half came via Botha who supported and received a great pass from captain Paul Mallaband and over he went.

With numerous tries scored it was not one way traffic as Colne's defence stood firm, making several cover tackles that stopped two or three more tries.

But the onslaught continued as a great carry by Joe Parkinson released winger Ali Marjot to finish it off. This time Parkinson converted.

The final try for Burnley came for Botha who again showed the importance of supported running as he was on the shoulder of Adam Healy who drew the last man and passed to Botha.

While the points belonged to Burnley, the last word belonged to Colne who, to their credit, kept coming and they finally scored a try which was converted.

Coach Finnan said: "It was a great win and it was very pleasing seeing so many young players perform to the best of their ability this season.

"But they will need to up it again on Saturday as they travel to Disbury Toc H who are one of the few sides to have beaten us this season."