Burton 'B' 10  Longton 3rds 5 on 19th January 2008

Burton continued their excellent winning streak by defeating the visiting, physical Longton side. With Longton’s direct forward type of game being thwarted by the tenacious tackling of the Burton team it was left to the home side to show their rugby skills and get a result at the end of this close fought physical encounter.

Burton took the lead from a Dave Ward penalty from 25 metres after the Burton pack had driven the Longton team back with a series of ferocious drives. Spurred on by his promotion to Capt. Sam Mcnab took a high ball and easily eluded the two on rushing opponents with a shimmy of his elusive hips, but as he raced towards the line his groin gave out as he pulled up like a wounded ‘Jason Robinson’ to limp off the field robbed of his try.

Midway through the first half Dave Ward intercepted a pass to feed Ben Stone who raced fifty metres to touch down under the posts. Ward duly converted to increase Burton’s lead to 10-0.

The second half was a much closer contest as a ‘fired-up’ Longton tried all they knew to conjure up a score. Having used up all their tricks Longton tried just sheer size but the way in which Burton’s diminutive but terrier like scrum half Joe Counter had tackled their 6ft 6in twenty stone No 8 and stopped him in his tracks soon made them realise that size isn’t everything, and eventually it was a kick and chase that saw them get a try.

This performance gave Burton their first win over Longton for many years and showed the tremendous effort and spirit put in by all concerned.