Wilmslow were simply out muscled by a physical Burnage side, whose power and stamina all over the pitch wore their opponents down.
Two late, late tries by the hosts put a gloss on the final scoreline but there was no doubt that they thoroughly deserved their success.
Burnage’s Varley Park ground, which now includes a state-of-the-art artificial pitch on which this match was played, now hosts a team which is unbeaten this season and at the top of the league. They should take some stopping.
The pitch is the only one of its kind in this area and was a new experience for the Wolves, who found the extra spring in the surface more tiring and stressful to run on and harder on the body when they went to ground, although nobody was complaining that it gave the home team any sort of an unfair advantage.
The Wolves had travelled the short distance to Heaton Mersey with a very young pack of forwards. Seven of the 10 who featured were either in their first or second season of club rugby and the others still students. The mature heavyweights needed for this kind of encounter were either not available or on the treatment bench.
However, they stayed in with a mathematical chance until the final moments. At half time they were still very much in touch at 20-18 but as the second half progressed, the sheer physicality, coupled with no little ability and sound tactics saw the more mature Burnage pack win the war of attrition.
Once again, Ryan Parkinson was Herculean in the way he tidied up ball for the Wolves at the base of a retreating scrum, Chris Lee at scrum-half didn’t give an inch but without the ball the Wolves’ backs became no more than a defensive line.
With the few scraps of possession they did get, they looked very dangerous. Bob MacCallum orchestrated their play well, there can be no quicker backs in the league than Ricky Chadwick, Elliot Brierley, Chris Lillie and Matthew King as a potent attacking force.
The game started with an exchange of penalties but on the half hour the game suddenly opened up. The Wilmslow pack disrupted the Burnage scrum and stole the ball to give Brierley the chance to break out of a tackle and his pace was enough to see him to the line.
Burnage responded when centre Stuart Oldham crossed the line.
From the restart, Danny Kennedy’s youthful enthusiasm saw him yellow carded for tackling a player still in mid-air. The penalty, and Burnage’s second try followed before Lillie claimed Wilmslow’s second try shortly before the break.
Burnage dominated the second half with forwards and backs combining to retain possession with workmanlike play.
Their third try on 45 minutes was typical. A forward drive took them to the Wilmslow line and, as the defence was sucked in, there was space for Oldham to score his second try from close range. A third Raikes penalty followed quickly and with 30 minutes still left it was now 28-18.
The Wolves refused to buckle and they had their counter-attacking moments, mainly from making the most of any misdirected kicking from their opponents, but a score to put them back in the mix never really threatened.
Wolves coach Giles Heagerty said: "You can’t win matches at this level if you miss your first-up tackles. I felt we lacked belief in the final quarter."
It’s hard, of course, to prevent these factors from creeping into your game if you’re constantly under defensive pressure from opponents with growing confidence.
It took Burnage though until nearly the last knockings of the game to get their fourth bonus-point winning try.
Predictably, it came as an exhausted Wilmslow scrum was driven back over its own line allowing No 8, Oli Hewitt, to touch down.
The final score came when substitute prop, Hassan Ben Ahmed, who had played at Wilmslow several seasons ago, scored virtually unopposed.
The Wolves now have a fortnight to recover before their next fixture, against Kirkby Lonsdale at home.
