Burton 'A' 56 Trentham 1sts 10 on 22nd March 2008

On a bright, sunny but bitterly cold Easter Saturday Burton ’A’ XV entertained Trentham 1st XV on Peel Croft and following Burton’s kick-off it was obvious that both sides were keen to play open, flowing rugby as the game swung from end to end. But some poor defending in the Burton midfield saw them concede the first points as the Trentham fly-half darted through to score a converted try under the posts.

The Burton forwards though were now beginning to get more organised and a great driving maul following a catch by Jon Edwards saw the Burton pack surge towards the try line and set up a Burton scrum. From the scrum Rich Wilton, playing in an unaccustomed role at scrumhalf, drove forward but was stopped two metres short. The Burton pack were soon in support and Rich Paupe was driven over for an unconverted try to bring the score back to 5-7.

From the restart Trentham were awarded a penalty and duly accepted the points on offer to increase their lead to 5-10. A great run by John Philliskirk in the centre was well supported by newcomer Adam Poynton to take play sixty metres upfield and following this a series of penalties saw Tim Barker, Charl Neethling and Jez Gibbs making ground towards the opposition line. Trentham cleared the danger with a kick that put play on their ten-metre line.
For once Burton lost the lineout but a crunching tackle by Ollie Cooke saw Burton win the resulting ruck and Philliskirk had the easiest of runs to trot over for the first of his three tries.
Gareth Sutton’s conversion sailed wide to leave the half-time score at 10-10.

After the interval the Burton forwards drove upfield to set camp in the Trentham 22. From one ruck Jon Edwards spun off with the ball to dive over the line carrying men on his back for an unconverted try that took Burton into a lead that they never relinquished. 

Burton now exchanged several players as Steve Lucas, Rory Peverill, Dave Noon and Joe Counter came on for Rich Paupe, Steve Cramp, Adam Poynton and Rich Wilton. This fresh infusion of players soon bought its rewards as Burton powered forward to release plenty of ball for their backs. Quick ball from a scrum saw Craig Dutton take an inside pass from Sutton and crash through the defence when stopped on the line he neatly pirouetted, with the elegance of a ballerina, out of the tackle to drop over the line for a try.

The constant pressure saw Trentham hurrying clearances and not finding touch. From one of these Tristan Gill caught the ball and seeing Philliskirk looping round him behind put in a neat reverse pass and the latter raced towards the line where he flattened the would-be tackler before crashing over. Philliskirk was then gifted a clear run to the line when Trentham’s attempted attack saw the ball passed directly to him to race in for his hat-trick. Sutton’s conversion put the score at 27-10.

Burton were now in complete control and although Trentham kept trying to assert some pressure their legs began to tire as Burton began to throw the ball around with some great runs by Barker, Wakelin and Neethling setting up plenty of scoring chances. From a ruck on halfway Sutton made a superb break only to die with the ball having raced forty metres but Dominic Taylor, as ever, was on hand to pick up and dive over for a try to take the score to 32-10.

A quick tap penalty on the Burton 10 metre line saw Jon Edwards make ground before feeding Taylor who drove on for a further twenty metres before passing the ball onto Dutton who linked with Philliskirk and Gill for the latter to score in the corner. Sutton added the extra two points to take the score to 39-10.

Sutton was soon back in the action as he charged down an attempted clearance to follow up and drop on the ball for a try that he then converted to increase Burton’s lead to 46-10. With less than five minutes to go Burton piled on the pressure to get the fifty points up and another powerful Burton scrum saw Joe Counter spin the ball out where Dutton made ground and found Counter in support to keep the move going. Counter darted and dashed round three Trentham players before feeding Rory Peverill, who had raced up from full back, and he dived into the corner for a try to take Burton’s points to 51.

But still had time for more points before the final whistle and it was the diminutive Joe Counter who took the honours as he took a quick tap penalty to feed Gill on a run for the corner. But sensing he couldn’t make the line Gill turned outside for support to find Counter had looped round him to accept the pass and dive over for a try that was a fitting end to the well-earned Burton victory.