Burton U13 v Stafford U13

In a ‘friendly’ match between two old rivals, things began in a familiar way for Burton. From the off, Burton began well, with initial possession going for the home side, but as per previous matches, the home side yielded the ball and Stafford’s number eight ran in a try in the eighth minute, with the conversion being successful.

The home side quickly stemmed the newly confident Stafford attack and within a couple of minutes George Abel ran in a quick return try that Theo Hamilton successfully converted to level the scores.

Not to be subdued, the opposition once again came back and scored another try on 13 minutes, but fortunately for Burton, the conversion attempt went awry.

For the next few minutes, there was a see-saw of attack and defend for both sides as they fought to gain further advantage, with ground being made for Burton by George Abel, Elvis Drinkwater, Will Wynn-Raji, Jacob Ruprecht and man-of-the-match Samuel Thorpe all making deep cuts into Stafford’s defences. One push by visitors saw them run in a third try on the 20 minute mark, again the kick not going for them.

Just after the break, Jacob Ruprecht made a great run through the middle of the Stafford back row to successfully put the ball down to make the matter of conversion a fact, not a possibility, for Travis Day.

The assault on the Stafford try-line continued and on 44 minutes, Jacob Ruprecht ran in another try to add to Burton’s score, unfortunately, Travis Day was unable to rub further salt into the Stafford wounds.

Stafford tried for most of the remaining time to make their presence mean more points, but some ferocious tackling by all the backs, in particular Kai Estevez, Alex Yigit and George O’Brien making good stops of the attackers. Richard Dowd came off injured, but up to that point had been at the heart of a solid Burton defence. The team came together as a unit today to push Stafford back time and again and hold the slender lead until the referee blew for full time.

Final Score was Burton U13s 19-17 Stafford U13s.

Report by Mat Horlock