Burns' try blitz fires up Devils

A FOUR-try blitz by a rampaging Darren Burns was the highlight in another commanding victory by a resurgent Gympie Devils rugby league team at the weekend.

Devils captain coach Darren Burns heads for the try line. Picture: Craig Warhurst

A FOUR-try blitz by a rampaging Darren Burns was the highlight in another commanding victory by a resurgent Gympie Devils rugby league team at the weekend.

The Devils, playing in front of a massive home crowd at Jack Stokes Oval, ran in 10 tries to three to defeat Beerwah 46-16.

It was the captain-coach Burns who stole the show, winning the players' player award on his 35th birthday with an awesome display of strong running which saw him storm over the try line four times.

Burns' first try came 15 minutes into the first half when he ran from dummy-half after a backline movement took the Devils to within 20 metres of the Beerwah try line.

A quick show-and-go down the blindside saw Burns head toward the try line, bump off one defender before spinning out of another two tackles and crash over the try line out wide.

But that try wasn't the captain's best.

A 50-metre effort in the second half after a slick Devils set move saw the number 13 hit a hole and out sprint three defenders to score in the corner.

Burns downplayed his role in the win after the game, saying the Devils' discipline in defence and attack won through on the day.

“The boys had their completion rate at 75 per cent, that's where we need it if we are going to continue to win games,” Burns said.

“The team's defence is improving, we let in a couple of soft tries, but that happens sometimes.”

The Devils defensive effort was impressive and included some massive hits by the likes of Chris Latu and Jono Smith, while Ben Bambling was fearless at fullback.

The defensive pressure mounted on Beerwah by the Gympie side saw a bit of niggle come into the game late in the second half.

After Burns scored his fourth try to take the score to 42-16 a verbal altercation on the try-line saw the Beerwah fullback Shaun McShannon sin binned, soon after another Beerwah player, Shane Pitt, was marched for 10 minutes.

With tempers rising on both teams, spectators sensed a fight was about to erupt, and it did.

A brawl broke out between the teams on the eastern sideline and it took referee Bruce Schmidt a few minutes to settle the players.

The game was held up while the referee took reports from touch judges to sort out the dispute.

Beerwah centre Jessie McKinless and Devils five-eighth James Chapman were sent to an already overflowing sin bin.

The Devils were awarded the penalty after the fight and straight away capitalized on a depleted Beerwah defence when Danny McMah sprinted around the back line to score out wide.

Burns said the fight was an unfortunate part of the game, but he was proud of the way the team stood up for each other.

“We have some young players in the team, (Tom Murray is still at school) and we have to look out for them,” he said.

The coach said it was hard to single out any of his players' performances.

“Scoring 46 points in a match is a good team effort,” he said.

Originally published as Burns' try blitz fires up Devils