Burton 'B' 37 Ashbourne 2nds 8 on 12th April 2008

Struggling with injuries Burton ‘B’ XV took on Ashbourne 2nd XV on the Ox-Hay but their incredible team spirit and courage combined to produce a memorable display of open, attractive and match winning rugby as they over-ran their opponents by seven tries to one.

Having been caught out in the past by lack of preparation Burton took to the field early to rehearse set plays and the benefit of this showed in the first half when they ran in four well worked tries without reply. The first two were scored by Adam Poynton, whose running had the defence grasping at fresh air as they strove to stop him as he ran them ragged, to set out the Burton stall. Then Chris Owen finished off an excellent passage of play as he dived over in the corner for a try. Just before the break Sam McNab, sick of seeing his normally accurate conversion kicking in the same state as the opposition defence, set off on a curving arc that carved Ashbourne to shreds before touching down under the posts for him to at last land a conversion on target. This gave Burton a 22-0 lead to end the first half. 

Ashbourne warmed up by now tried to make the second half far more even and actually managed to get a try and a penalty on to the score board before Burton eventually re-took command of the game. The visitors were bought back down to earth by a flurry of huge tacklers from Kev Billings and Simon Collier and the excellent support work of Mark Topliss, Chris Cooke and John Collett. This commitment and spirit soon saw John Collett force his way over for a try. Burton were now well on the front foot and although Adam Poynton did his best to avoid getting his hat-trick and jug he at last had to take one of the myriad of passes that Ben Stone threw his way. He at last took a scoring pass to complete his hat trick with a weaving forty-metre run before touching down in the corner.  This spurred the Burton team, particularly the back row, into even greater feats and Mark Topliss having displayed fine handling and support work all game took a pass that saw him stroll over under the posts to score. But his attempted conversion showed that even he has some short fallings as his drop kick attempt didn’t even get above three feet off the floor to sail harmlessly under the bar.

With these final points to create a 37-8 victorious score line Burton ‘B’ XV yet again showed the value of their great team spirit and were able to retire back to the bar. Where they could hopefully dream that they had taken yet another step towards team of the year at the Players Dinner awards night on Friday 2nd May.