Burton Under 11's on February 17th 2008

Burton 15 v Ashby 30

Burton played host to Ashby in a hard fought battle, with the visitors edging the victory by 6 tries to 3.

Burton's team comprised of all their new players this season and they gave a very good performance and should be proud of their performance.

In the first half Ashby used their big forwards to power to a three try lead. Burton put in some good tackles, full back Haydn Mabbott stopped an Ashby forward with a solid head on tackle and half backs Oscar Phillips and Jack Nicolle put in tackle after tackle. Burton clawed their way back into the game with two tries, 1 from player of the day Joe Thompson who used his strength and speed to battle his way through several Ashby defenders to score, the second Burton try came from Fly half Jack Nicolle, the Burton forwards secured the ball and Scrum Half Oscar Phillips put a loveley pass out to his Fly half Jack who outpaced the Asby backs to cross the line and score his first try for Burton. Ashby got themsleves back in the game right at the end to score to take a 4 try to 2 lead after 20 minutes.

In the second twenty minutes the match was very even. Burton opened the scoring with a great solo run from second row Tim Robinson, his speed and vision for space took him past the Ashby defence to score in the corner. Alex walker worked hard in the forwards with good tackling, whilst fellow props Will Roe and Ben Tomlinson were solid in the loose. Wingers Aiden Hopkinson, Liam Gray and Greg Toon saw plenty of ball and put in some good atacking runs and Full back George Wyton cleared up the Ashby kicks with some good counter attacking runs. In the centres Matthew Knowles and Ewan Collins were solid in defence, and Sheridan Cole making a return to the team after some time away showed he had not lost his side step and great ability to jink passed players. With only 5 minutes left in the game Ashby finished the stronger running in two tries to seal the victory.

The Burton team played well as a team, passing and supporting with the ball flowing through the back line and out to the wingers. A great team performance and with the exception of the first 10 minutes a very well evened match.