Today is

Burton 5 Old Saltleians 8 on Mar 10th 2007

With no first team fixture this week Peel Croft saw Burton Development take the field against Old Saltleians 1st XV with a side that was bolstered by four regular first teams in the starting line-up and two more on the bench as replacements. But unfortunately even these reinforcements were not enough to stop them from going down 5-8 in a forward-dominated game. Salts kicked off with the breeze behind them and were soon applying pressure to the Burton defence as they used their heavyweight forwards to good effect in rucks and mauls. However, the Burton defence held firm with good tackling by John Leason, Ben Stone and Ben Peach. After fifteen minutes another surging burst of power from the visiting pack saw them force themselves over in the corner for an unconverted try.

Burton hit back but injuries and liberal yellow cards from the referee made play difficult for the Burton side. Leason and Dave Viles left the field with injuries to be replaced by John Hamilton and Rich Lewis, while Karl English sat out 10 minutes for apparently striking an opponent. None of this did much to help the pattern of Burton’s play, but a good forward break involving Stuart Saunders and Rob Emery saw play get to within 5 metres of the opposition line before a loose pass let Salts clear their lines. Clever kicking by the reshuffled Burton halfbacks Hamilton and Peach saw Burton gain large amounts of ground but all too often the opposition’s killing tactics prevented the ball being recycled. Just before half-time one such kick saw Rich Lewis yellow carded for supposedly kicking a players head when he was actually ten metres away.

Now with the wind at their backs Burton started the second half well and tried to spread the ball wide to use the pace of John Philliskirk and Lee English but all too often the ball was not released at vital times. During this time Ben Waldron was also judged to have transgressed and another yellow card saw Burton down to 13 men. Charl Neethling came on for Jez Gibbs and after Waldron had completed his time in the bin Eddie Talbot replaced him. These fresher legs saw Burton push forward even more and a good run by Talbot and Saunders saw the latter felled by a cheap blow. This resulted in a yellow card to the visiting second row and a Burton penalty in front of the posts but Talbot’s effort just missed the upright. A groggy Saunders left the field and Jamie Parker appearance saw Talbot go second row as Parker moved into the back row. With Sean Green now taking some excellent lineout ball Burton pushed forward, but struggled to break the Salts. defensive line and the visitors eventually broke clear thanks to some good play by their scrum half and speedy right wing and play got to Burton 10-metre line. A penalty against Burton saw Salts. take a quick tap and the referee stopped play for not retreating 10 metres to give Salts the opportunity to convert a much easier kickable penalty to take their lead to 0-8.  

Burton powered back up field and another great take by Green saw the Burton pack drive over the line for a try as Neethling emerged with the ball. The conversion was missed and the final whistle sounded leaving Burton with the bitter taste of an 8-5 defeat to swallow.