Today is

South Leicester 23 Burton 10 on Sep 9th 2006

Burton ‘A’ team travelled to play South Leicester minus a few of their regular players but still managed to give the hosts quite a shock and it wasn’t until the last 10 minutes that Leicester scored two tries to make the victory sure. Burton started slowly but once the journey was out of their systems they started to exert pressure with some excellent ball from set pieces. Good scrummaging and line-outs produced plenty of ball for the Burton side but despite two tries by Ben Waldron and Liam Rollason they just failed to find that killer touch that would have resulted in a victory for the visitors.

From the kick-off Burton were caught half asleep and the Leicester side surged deep into the Burton half and soon scored a try as they spun the ball out wide for their winger to touch down. With the conversion sailing over Burton were down 7-0 after just 15 minutes of play and Leicester increased their lead with two penalties to establish a healthy lead of 13-0 with only half an hour played. Burton hit back when Ben Waldron picked up from a scrum and powered over from 15 metres out to reduce the deficit. The half time whistle blew before Burton could further capitalise on their control.

The second half started with Burton in the ascendancy as they added a further try to their score following some smart back play. Quick thinking By John Hamilton saw him break blind to find Liam Rollason in support and he took his opportunity by jinking passed three or four defenders before touching down for a wonderful try.  Burton were now applying all the pressure but could not produce that vital finishing touch that would give them the lead. First Charl Neethling and then Ian Baker drove forward and nearly got to the line only to be thwarted by some excellent defence. Then Chris Harley nearly scored as he danced through a flat-footed host defence but his final pass was dropped and the score eluded Burton. Burton’s forwards deserved more as they piled on the pressure but it was all to no avail as South Leicester broke clear and scored a try in the corner. To make matter worse the hosts repeated the practically the same move to again score in the opposite corner and with only two minutes remaining it was left to Burton to think what might have been had they have possessed that vital killer punch.

But Burton can be proud of their efforts but must learn to take the chances on offer if they are to capitalise on the amount of ball they won. Despite the defeat Burton were in no way overawed by their opponents and fought bravely on to the end with men giving their all.