A bright start and a gloomy finish versus Burnage summed up a day when Douglas slipped to 7th in Regional Two North West and suffered several injuries along the way at Varley Park.
Burnage scored early on as the Manx men adjusted to the artificial 5G pitch with Joe Wrigley’s 5th minute converted try, and Douglas responded for 7-5 with Sam McCord’s 12th minute score.
Douglas centre Luca Simmons suffered a dislocated shoulder shortly after, and Wilf Kermode was moved to the wing as Sean Garland made his entry from the bench.
Advantage of Douglas injuries
Burnage added a second try, Garland was injured and replaced, and Burnage took full advantage.
Three tries before half-time were compounded by a yellow for skipper Blake Snell, and although Luke Hyland banged over a penalty for 28-8, the writing was on the wall.
Full-back Brett Pyke took a head knock and was sidelined with an HIA soon after the re-start and not to return, and Burnage again surged on with two tries for a 40-8 lead.
When Douglas winger Cal Dentith took a heavy blow in the 70th minute, the excellent Burnage physio insisted that further treatment was required and the match was stopped.
Glad to report that the hospitalised Dentith returned home with no further complications.
Match report by Tony Wilson-Spratt
Douglas Squad: Simon Hoddinott, Rob Todd, Jack Loughnane, Blake Snell (cap), Connor Garland, Wilf Kermode, James Good, Liam Kirkpatrick, Kyle Martin, Luke Hyland, Cal Dentith, Luca Simmons, Sam McCord, Shay Waterworth, Brett Pyke, Owen Carvin, Ralph Clarke, Sean Garland.
This weekend (February 10) will be a rest weekend for the side. The team will face Birkenhead Park on home turf the following Saturday (February 17).
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