Lichfield 25 Burton 5 on March 16th 2008
in Staffordshire Cup Final

Back Row: Paul Tattersall (Head Coach), Nathan Wrathall, Sam Smith, Dewi Williams, Jake Manning, Sam Smith, Steve Mabbott, Jo Saxon, Ed Watkins, Andrew Young, Laurence Brotherhood, Jon Briggs, Dominic Minns, Will Greasley, Phil Manning (Coach)
Middle Row: Kevin Wrathall (Coach), Tom Worthy, Matt Martin, Nyle Davidson, Zach Meares Davies, Elliott Endicott Jones, Andrew Gosling, Nathan Taylor, Adam Lloyd, Lewis Kirkham, Charlie Wainman, Tom Sharratt, Dave Heptonstall (Coach)
Front Row: Sam Heptonstall, Alex Reeve, Josh Wattrus, Ben Peacock, Andrew Tattersall (Capt), Giles Rought Witta, Alex Stockbridge, Maitland Simpson Smith, Josh Oliver. (Missing Tom and Owen just joined)

Burton U16 arrived at Cooke Fields full of calm expectation that they would regain the trophy lost to Lichfield last year as U15’s. The build up to the final had been a long affair progressing through the leagues and then to the well earned win over Newcastle in the semi final. Burton had beaten Lichfield in the leagues so it was expected that this was to be a tough game between two teams who have consistently been the best teams in Staffordshire over recent years. Burton arrived this year with no injury problems (apart from the long term injuries to Wrathall and Greasley) and picked from their full squad.
After a night of incessant rain the main pitch at Lichfield was holding up well as two other cup finals had already taken place. It was predicted that between these two sides it would be the small things that change games as they both knew each others strengths and weaknesses very well having played against each other in two cup finals already and as county team mates for Staffordshire.

The game was kicked off by Lichfield and the first small thing that went wrong was the ball was not fielded properly being knocked on, first scrum Lichfield. Immediately Burton were on the back foot rather than being down the other end of the field. In the next passages of play Burton were under pressure near their 22 metre line conceding a penalty for not releasing. Massey dutifully kicked the penalty for Lichfield: Lichfield 3 Burton 0.

From the restart Burton at last got into Lichfield territory where they won a penalty for a Lichfield infringement at the breakdown. Jon Briggs kicked from a long way out and was denied by the post. The ball bounced back far into play and if only Burton had been a little more alert it could have been a scoring opportunity to get back into the game. Instead it was Lichfield who seemed hungrier for the ball overall especially at the breakdown and Burton were struggling to find their usual rhythm and momentum which has been their trademark this season. From rucks and mauls the ball was being presented slowly and untidily giving scrum half Giles little time in which to operate. Lichfield were onto any drives Burton had and turned over a number of balls meaning Burton were living off scraps of possession rather than building from a secure platform. Lichfield played the phase’s very well driving from 1st phase into our centre midfield committing them and thereby creating spaces out wide. This tactic was a common  feature of the first half from which Lichfield scored three unconverted tries to go into half time with a good but not unassailable  18-0 lead.

The half time talk centred fronting up Lichfield at the gain line not 2 metres back and really taking them on up front more. Changes were made as Andrew Young came on at 2nd row with Nathan Taylor moving back into his more usual position of hooker. Whether it was the team talk or the realisation that there was nothing to lose seemed to galvanise Burton in the second half and the determination and grit that was shown in the second half against the wind was a pleasure to see. At last they were taking the game to Lichfield more with Briggs, Taylor and Davidson to the fore with some great driving runs into the heart of the Lichfield defence. Giles feeding Dominic who putting chips through gave his wingers Wainman and Reeve something to chase. Great charging runs by the centres Tattersall and Manning started to break though the Lichfield defence.  It was from one of these runs that the ball was eventually fed to Ed Watkins who had looped around the backs to speed down the wing. Half stopped 10 metres from the goal line he managed to brush off the tackle and regain his footing to score in the corner. Lichfield 18 - Burton 5.

Briggs touchline conversion was only inches wide. For the next 15 minutes or so Burton strived to break through again as another score would make the last 10 minutes of the game very interesting. Alas it was not to be as Lichfield had regrouped themselves and took play down to the Burton 22 where the Burton were opened up by a good run and they scored a try under the posts which was duly converted: Lichfield 25 – Burton 5. With the minutes ticking by and the game now sadly out of reach Burton gave all their squad a run out to taste cup final rugby.

In the final summary the best team won it on the day but we were left to rue that if we had played like we did in the second half, it may have been a different story.

Whilst they are the greatest of rivalries Burton and Lichfield have also become the best of friends as there is huge respect between these guys and safe in the knowledge it all could happen again next year as U17’s

Burton had achieved their first priority of the season getting into the final, a win would have been the icing on the cake but it has been a hugely successful season with one of the most talented hardest working lads you could wish to be involved in.
Special thanks to all the squad who played their heart out yesterday and to all the members of the Burton U16 squad the injured players and supporters who made the trip down the A38 to cheers us on

To finish off the celebrations Burton were entertained by Lichfield in their clubhouse where Nathan Taylor was named by Lichfield as man of the match (Burton named Mattie Smith of Lichfield for his overall control of the game) followed by post match “celebration of success” back at Peel Croft until late into the evening.