A Team lose away at Boston

A very young A team made the long 175 mile round trip to Boston, conditions were wet and with a chill in the air, with pockets of water spread about, it was always going to be a tough battle up front. After a week off, the boys were looking to bounce back after pushing Belgrave close in their last outing. With only 3 players over the age of 25, experience was going to be tested by the bigger Boston pack.

The game kicked off and for the first 20-25 minutes neither team could really get a foothold or take control. Both had forays into each others 22 but came away empty handed. Knock ons were plentiful as were scrums, its fair to say that the big boys certainly earned their beers. Around the half an hour mark, Boston had the chance to score the first points of the game, the penalty shot just slightly off target.

Boston continued to camp in Burton's half and just before the half whistle, they were able to push a driving maul over the line to claim the first points. A good conversion followed, bringing the half time score to;

Boston 7-0 Burton A's

With the home time starting to find their feet (metaphorically and literally) the local crowd were hoping for more scores, they were disappointed. Another battle up front dominated most of the half, with conditions under foot becoming worse, free flowing rugby was rare. Connor Hutchison made a few half breaks from scrum half, and outside centre Jacob Ruprecht managed to get over and dot down, however the ref deemed him to be held up. This was it for Burton as they hammered away at the home defence, but to no avail. Boston managed to slot a penalty on the 70th minute to take the score to 10-0.

The final 10 minutes were a knock on a thon with scrum after scrum, Burton tried to muster one last attack, but the ball went to ground and the ref finally signalled the end of the game.

Final Score;
Boston 10-0 Burton A's

Certainly an experience for the young ones, they will have gained valuable knowledge on how to play the conditions going forward. Next week they welcome Birstall to Battlestead Croft and will be hoping that there fortunes will change.

Photo credit and thanks to Boston RUFC photographer David Dale