Burton 'B' 15 Sutton Coldfield 3rds 15
 on 10th November 2007

Burton ‘B’ XV kicked off against Sutton Coldfield and immediately put their pack under pressure with a series of powerful scrummages that saw the visitors concede penalties and from one of these Burton kicked into the corner for a lineout 5 metres out. Pat Winter’s great take allowed John Collett to drive over the line covered by the whole opposition pack for a try. The restart saw Burton continue to dominate and up front Martin Bird, Chris Cooke and Gary Potts won scrummage ball at will. Burton soon realised that all the visitor’s strength lay in their youthful backs and only desperate tackles by Lee Gilleland and Alan Taylor stopped certain tries. But eventually Sutton hit back with their winger racing in from 50 metres out for a try in the corner.

Undeterred Burton stuck to their task ad Mark Topliss turned over opposition ball in the Burton 22 to feed Phil MacFarlane. Who for the second week running showed that his years spent with the British Olympic sprint team thirty years ago were not wasted as he raced the length of the pitch for his eight try of the season. Joe Counter converted to give Burton a 12-5 lead at half time.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first with Burton’s forwards controlling scrums and lineouts but Sutton’s pacey threequarters always posing a threat. Burton now brought on Simon Collier as a potential match winner but all to no avail as although he showed he was fully recovered from injury he got not make that tell-tale break to clinch a try. Joe Counter just missed with a penalty from 15 metres out before Winter landed a monster 40-metre kick to take the score to 15-5. But Sutton’s backs had the last word with two late tries to snatch a draw from this close and well fought contest.