From the kick-off the Burton ‘A’ XV took play to their opposition and some good kicks by Ben Peach and Steve Cramp put the ball deep into the corners of the Uttoxeter 22. From these positions Rich Paupe, Rob Beddard and Jez Gibbs all drove hard at the line but lack of support saw balls turned over and the visitors cleared any danger with their own long kicks. A great run by John Philliskirk saw him make forty metres before the move petered out. But all this pressure by Burton was short lived as Uttoxeter broke up field and scored under the posts to take a 5-0 lead. Although the conversion attempt sailed wide these first points marked the end of Burton’s dominance and the start of Uttoxeter’s as the visitors began to control every aspect of the game.

Some poor tackling by the Burton team saw the opposition move the ball forty metres forward before the full back touched down for a converted try. This was quickly followed by their open side flanker brushing aside would be tackles as he walked over for a try. Two more tries and conversion took the half-time score to 31-0 following a half that had seen Burton start brightly before disappearing into oblivion for the rest of the half.

The second half started as the first had ended with Uttoxeter scoring a try straight from the kick-off as Burton just stood and watched. The introduction of Gavin Cole seemed to spark some life into the weary looking Burton side as following his example the team started to look more alert and as though they wanted to play. A break by Cole saw him feed Tom Atherton who burst down the touch line to score in the corner but to Burton’s consternation the referee listen to opposition pleas that Atherton had stepped in touch despite no signal from the touch judge.

Undeterred by this Cole continued to spark a few Burton moves as the forwards began to re-establish some control of the game with Steve Lucas, Matt Turner and Rich Langslow all to the fore. But the Burton threequarters wasted ball as they ran across the pitch and made little headway or lost the ball in the tackle. After thirty minutes the Burton backs at last managed to string together enough passes for the ball to reach Dave Noon on the wing and he passed back inside to Cole who raced in to score Burton’s first points.   

Unfortunately Uttoxeter hit back and a simply tap penalty move saw Burton’s frail defence again split open as the visitors increased their lead to 41-5.

But Burton had the last say as another move across the back line saw Dave Noon completely flat foot his man as he cut back inside to score in the corner. Ian Cartwright added the extra points to take the final score to 41-12, and a somewhat dismal end to the season for the Burton side