Burton Colts 15 Stourbridge Colts 14 on 12th April 2008

On a fine sunny spring afternoon Burton Colts entertained Stourbridge on Peel Croft for their annual Vets sponsorship game. The young players came up with the goods but what a pity that the victory was marred by the actions of certain supporters. Instead of enjoying the efforts of the two young sides as they put on a superb display they could only heckle the referee and opposition players from the stand, not a very good advert for the club.

Burton received the kick-off and after several phase Will Peach kicked the ball deep into the opposition half. Burton kept up the momentum and were soon on the score sheet. From a scrum Burton picked up and fed the ball out to the right wing, Richard James, where he burst passed his opposite number before rounding the full back and touching down for a score. From the restart Stourbridge gained ground and with Burton resting on their laurels and half asleep they easily broke through the Burton ranks to score a converted try to take the lead. A penalty by Peach put Burton back into the lead as the opposition tested Burton’s defensive prowess to the full. However, some inept defensive work eventually gifted Stourbridge a second converted try to go into the break leading 14-8.

The first twenty minutes of the second half saw Burton using the wind well with Peach putting in some excellent kicks to gain position and territory. A charge down saw Burton shift the ball out to the left where Steve Cook crossed for Burton’s second try. Peach slotted the difficult wide conversion to put Burton into a 15-14 lead and start a last ten minutes onslaught from the Stourbridge side. Twice the opposition appeared to have broken through but scrambling defence kept them out and then their kicker put two penalties wide as the God’s appeared to be on Burton’s side. But excellent defensive work by Peach, Rob Beddard, George Wright and Sultan Khan kept the visitors at bay as Burton held on to win.