Burton 'A' 22 Dudley Kingswinford 2nds 11  
on 23rd February 2008

Burton ‘A’ XV faced Dudley keen to avenge their narrow loss in a gruelling encounter at their ground last October. But as usual Burton’s slow and lackadaisical approach was soon penalised as the visitors landed an early penalty goal to take an early 3-0 lead. Buoyed by this early advantage Dudley continued to press and soon added to their lead when the ball was spun out wide to produce an overlap for the winger who raced through to score a try.

After this score Burton, at last, began to get organised and the pack began to set up a platform for that master provider Russ Banton to work from and unleash his flowing three quarters in a series of flowing moves. The first of these saw Ben Peach make full use of a wide short side to pass to Banton who released Mike Prince, playing in an unusual wing role, to score his first try for twelve years.

Burton’s forwards ably led by Steve ‘Bear’ Lucas continued the onslaught with Dave Viles making several bustling runs into the visiting defence that saw illegal tactics used to stop him and Gareth Sutton duly converted the resulting penalty to level the scores at 8-8. Burton’s inability to deal with Dudley’s restart saw the visitors retake the lead thanks to a penalty created by the mayhem and lack of concentration in the Burton ranks. This marked the end of the half with Dudley leading 11-8.

The second half saw Burton take the game to Dudley and any attempts to run out of defence were thwarted by Matt Tivey and Tristan Gill’s resolute and determined tackling. With Prince now playing at scrum half and Peach moving to flanker a superb scrum from the Burton pack saw Dudley squirm under pressure. Peach pounced on the loose ball and set up a move that saw the triumvirate of Peach, Banton and Tivey race the length of the field before the latter crashed over for an excellent try. Sutton converted to put Burton in the lead at 15-11.

With Burton now in the lead for the first time in the game they began to play with both flair and enthusiasm that had been previously hidden. Opting not to use the wind but to allow the backs to run with an excellent supply of quality ball that saw Burton set up camp in the opposition 22. From here Viles drove forward and was the deserving beneficiary of some superb forward play as he surged over the line taking three defenders with him to score under the posts. Sutton’s conversion put the icing on the cake for this well-deserved 22-11 victory for Burton