MARTIN Poste had described Blackburn as a ‘nemesis’ for his side and his view won’t have changed after a third successive defeat at Ramsgreave Drive.

Worryingly, this was less of a contest than the previous two.

Burn led 25-0 by the break and, while Northwich outscored their opponents in the second-half, their hopes of comeback were dashed by a timely try by the home team.

Blacks were playing catch-up from the moment Leon Fifield touched down inside five minutes.

His conversion attempt struck an upright, but he was more accurate while kicking two penalties in quick succession midway through the opening period.

A second try arrived when Jamie Brookes went over after a series of phases started by Sam Gale peeling off the back of a scrum.

Fifield’s extras made it 18-0.

Northwich responded when Richard Dale tapped a penalty and his surge towards the line was stopped only by a last-ditch tackle.

Instead Burn, victors in all but one of their previous home games this season, scored next when they gathered the ball following a 22-metre restart by Northwich and Gale ran to the line unchallenged.

Fifield remained reliable.

Poste switched Chris James from hooker to the back-row during the interval and, together with Phil Williams and Tom Clark, he helped the visitors rally.

They broke through on 58 minutes when Bud Skinkis made a break with James Underhill in support.

He was stopped short of the line and Blacks’ pressure following the resulting scrum ended with Nick Baldwin’s miss pass inviting Skinkis to score.

Baldwin added the extras.

However their hopes were hit when Burn responded with a fourth try that secured for them a bonus-point, Scott Richardson dotting down between the posts after collecting a chipped kick from Marc Maher diverted his way by a Northwich hand.

Gale was sent to the sin bin, and Blacks made their numerical advantage count when Ben Ridgway crashed over after an assault on the hosts’ line led by James.

The visitors were then denied a third try late on when the referee judged a final pass to have been forward.

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