Burton travelled to Handsworth hoping to get back to winning ways and did just that with a solid 22-10 victory over their hosts in a game that saw them have to battle hard in the second half after piling on early points.

Burton kicked off and played with the wind at their backs and took full advantage of the elements to control the game. An early break through by Ben Stone saw him race the length of the field to score after he had taken a mis-directed home clearance deep in his own 22. With Sam McNab and PJ Solomon pulling all the right strings in the back line it wasn’t long before a fine run by Solomon ended with Ian Gibson taking a simply pass just five metres from the line to dive over and put Burton 10-0 in the lead. A great rolling maul saw the forwards driven on by Martin Bird, John Low and John Collett take play to within fifteen metres of the home line. Mark Topliss spun off the side, supported by Chris Cooke and Steve Bates, to drive over for the third try of this one-sided half. 

The second period saw Handsworth have the elements with them and they staged a great comeback to score a converted try and a penalty to take the score to 15-10 to Burton. But with Burton’s back row of Simon Collier, Tony Mumford and Topliss tackling like demons the home side were made to fight for any points they got and Burton always looked dangerous on the break. A great midfield tackle by Solomon saw the ball go loose and McNab was on it like a flash to snatch it up and feed Stone who raced out of defence to feed Chris Lycett who took play to within four metres of the line before being stopped. But the ever-present Pat Winter was there in support and took the final pass to race over the line and touch down under the posts. McNab made no mistake with the simple conversion and Burton travelled home worthy 22-10 victors.