Burton 31  v Bham Solihull  7 on 9th February 2008

On Sunday Burton played Birmingham and Solihull. From the kick off Burton looked to have started brightly . Alistair Weedon made a good run and passed out to Callam Sandeman who made good ground . This resulted in a scrum and a good ball from Tom Bunting set up Edwin Runagle to power over for a try which was well converted by James Gibbons. But rather than build on this bright start Burton took their foot off of the pedal and Birmingham came more onto the game. Unusually , whilst Burton were doing well at the scrums they were failing to win any quality ball at the breakdown. Birmingham started to enjoy more possession and started to link up well and make some powerful runs. Birmingham then had a series of penalties and had they seen the overlap they were creating they would surely have scored. Rather fortunetly then Burton came to the break 7 points  to 0 up. At half time it was clear that Burton needed to raise their game.

However Birmingham also came out for the second half knowing they were still very much in this game . Indeed it was Birmingham who scored first with a break and several missed tackles from Burton players . The try was scored under the posts and was duely converted . The score 7-7.

Finally Burton woke up and stuttered towards playing some better rugby. Adam Cooke had to deal with a tricky long and bouncing ball. He picked up superbly and made a great jinking run beating several Birmingham players. He set the ball well and Alex Crisp collected the ball at the ruck and made a great run himself. Absorbing several attempted tackles he looked for support and found it the form of Runagle who was unstoppable to score his secod try. Runagle also contributed well to the next try with a run almost the whole length of the pitch. The Birmingham defender did really well to catch him . This pressure resulted in a scrum and this set up the powerful Alex Bowen to collect the ball at the base of the scrum to score. This was converted by Crisp.

Burton were starting to put some pressure on the Birmingham side. Burton were awarded another scrum in the Birmingham 22 and this time Weedon collected at 8 and also powered over for a try. Soon afterwards Burton found themselves in their own 22 . Burton put in an excellent ruck and Marcus Armitage made an excellent run breaking through several takles . He passed the ball out to Henry Whitfield who linked up superbly with Runagle who ran the length of the pitch. This time Runagle could not be caught and completed his hattrick of tries under the posts . Gibbons converted.

Birmingham never gave up and could have scored but for an excellent tackle by Sam Halton as the Birmingham number 8 picked up at  the base of the scrum .