Douglas stun Burnage with 10-try performance

Douglas Rugby Club beat Cheshire side Burnage in Regional Two North West on Saturday with a stunning 10-try performance.

In doing so, they found their feet in round three of the 2026-27 national league competition.

Burnage were favourites, having put 50 points on Winnington Park away from home the previous week, while Douglas laboured to lose at Birkenhead Park and are still missing some key players, including captain Simon Hoddinott.

Key Douglas selections included giving Jonty Shimmin a first start at scrum-half, moving Craig Martin to midfield and introducing Callum Clague for a debut back-row place.

In perfect conditions and on groundsman Jasper Kirkpatrick’s exemplary playing surface, it took only five minutes in the Port-e-Chee sunshine for winger Sam McCord to breathe life into the Douglas attack and score in the corner.

A ninth-minute yellow card for debutant Clague prompted a Burnage response, with Louis Hicks ploughing through and Christian Avis adding the two points.

Shimmin and Owen Carvin cut down Burnage runners and possession turnover saw McCord came up trumps again after dotting down near the posts from Matty Wood’s exquisite prod past the cover, converted by Wood for 12-7.

Wood’s right peg added a three-point penalty as Burnage transgressed at the ruck, but the Stockport side were full of running and winger Nick Newnham raced in for a 35th-minute try when Douglas kicked deep.

Burnage full-back Oliver Fallon gobbled up chances to counter and winger Kier Merrick appeared on the end of another Fallon run for a 15-19 lead just before the break.

McCord took on a monster 56-metre penalty attempt that was not far short and, in the dying embers of a gripping first-half, the slick Douglas lineout and maul grafted upfield and number eight Harry Cartwright crashed over to post a 20-19 scoreline.

Burnage struck early in the second period when flanker Jo Walls supported Fallon’s incision, and Avis converted to take a 20-26 lead.

John Dutnall off the Douglas bench for the hard-carrying Mark Oldfield was a like-for-like change and coincided with the Manx side moving up the gears.

A Douglas scrum on the left and 30m out from the Burnage try line, sleight of hand by Wood and deceptive running lines unleashed Wilf Kermode at pace. He knifed through a congested midfield and scored under the posts for the bonus-point try with barely a hand laid on for 27-26 after Wood added the extras.

A searing break from Craig Martin was nearly completed by brother Kyle, but it was McCord with his 54th-minute hat-trick try and a yellow card for Burnage that truly shifted the tide.

Carvin drove over to top an impressive Douglas mauling performance and Oli Corkish sprinted in for a well-deserved try, both capped by Wood’s conversions for 48-26.

Kudzai Chenda spilled the ball over the try line after a 30-metre surge, put on his way by Garland, but Douglas then turned the screw.

Josh Campbell capped a top-class lineout performance to thunder over, converted by Wood, and Craig Martin in the 70th minute shredded Burnage’s cover defence and finished with a flourish.

Both sides incurred referee Duncan Hendry’s displeasure with yellow cards as the Manx team raced out of sight and Garland’s sturdy front-row shift, garnished nicely with deft handling in the loose, gave way to Ralph Clarke.

Cal Dentith replaced the promising Clague as Douglas closed out the game, Corkish finished with his second try and Wood totalled a19-point contribution from the boot for the 69-26 win.