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Burton 17 Cheltenham 24 on Sep 16th 2006

Late cry-offs forced two changes in the Burton ‘A’ team when they entertained Cheltenham with Ian Scott being called back from Derby to play at prop and Liam Rollason being drafted in to the centre. So with only one replacements Burton took the field and soon realised they had a tough fixture on their hands as the visitors quickly sailed into a 14-0 lead after only twenty minutes. Burton were caught half asleep by the pace and power of the opposition and the first try against them came when they failed to clear the ball and Cheltenham seized on the opportunity to run the ball back and score under the posts after displaying some excellent passing skills. Still worse was to follow when another Burton mistake resulted in the ball being split and again the visiting side needed no second invitation to snap up the ball and race thirty metres to score a second try under the posts.

At 14-0 down Burton looked to be in for a bad afternoon but despite conceding another try they began to look more organised and started to play with some passion, in particular Henry Winsness and Will Forrester both put in some hard tackles and made several powerful runs. With Burton continuing to pick up the pace and with Ian Baker and Nick Thurman dominating the lineouts Burton started to get the possession they needed and the Burton threequarters began to put the opposition to the test. First Chris Harley was hauled down inches short and then another flowing move saw Gareth Cogan get the ball and round his man only to be caught three metres out by the desperate efforts of the covering defence. Luck seemed to be turning Burton’s way as Cheltenham started to display some frailties and the ever-alert Ben Waldron snapped up a loose ball to touch down for a score. This was quickly followed by Ben Simpson dummying his way round several visiting players before feeding Liam Rollason who raced in from 40 metres out. Gareth Sutton converted both these tries and the half-time whistle sounded with Burton defending their own line and being 14-19 in arrears.

The second half started with Burton powering forward and piling heavy pressure on the Cheltenham line but no tries were forthcoming. Although Sutton added a penalty to take the score to 17-19 as play swung from end to end with both teams playing some attractive rugby. But the defences were always on top with Burton’s backrow of Waldron, Forrester and Winsness putting in some great tackles. But unfortunately the only try that was scored was from Cheltenham as they increased their lead to 17-24. Despite Burton applying all the pressure but could not produce that vital spark that could have levelled the scores. Chris Ariss and Ian Baker both drove forward and nearly got to the line only to be stopped by some excellent defence. Chris Harley, Lee English and Gareth Cogan also combined well and nearly grabbed the elusive score. But it was not to be though Burton can be well pleased with their display and must realise against this type of opposition there is no time to relax every minute needs concentration.