Newcastle 19 Burton 15 on Dec 9th 2007

Newcastle wasted no time in launching their assault against a Burton team bolstered by last weeks victory over Lichfield in this pool stage County Cup clash. Early domination in the scrum , line out and at the breakdown saw them open the scoring with an unconverted try. The pressure continued with Burton struggling to gain any real momentum and Newcastles second score followed which this time was converted. As the first half progressed , the Burton machine cranked up a gear and Newcastle found themselves on the reciving end of a sustained barrage of attacks. The Burton pressure finally paid off as Andrew Tattersall slid over in the corner to close the gap to 12:5 at half time.
 
The significance of the outcome of this game was wasted on no-one. Two teams , with very much a place in the final of this competition on their minds , relaunched the second half with Burton continuing where they had left off. Sam Smith jumping at 2 in the line out started to secure plenty of Burton ball. The pack played with much greater cohesion and produced a number of driving mauls which gained considerable ground. A penalty in the corner close to the Newcastle line saw Nathan Taylor blast his way through the Newcastle defence and dive over the line to narrow the gap further to 12:10 . Sensing a possible victory Burton continues to hound the Newcastle defences which doggedly held out but eventually from a line out in the corner , Burton produced another magnificent Nyle Davidson drive which ultimately saw Nathan Taylor put Burton ahead 15:12. With only minutes to go Burton looked as though this was mission accomplished.
 
In the dying minutes of the game Newcastle won a line out close to the Burton line. This time they were in then driving seat and were able to push their way over the line to score a converted try to close this almighty encounter with a Newcastle 19:15 win.