Burton Overcome Stubborn Resistance

After a very tough game at Warrington last week, Bucks were looking to get back to winning ways in this Staffordshire County league match. They kicked off on a cold and overcast morning playing into a breeze. The first ruck of the game was driven back and the ball was moved smartly through the backs hands and a very promising start lead play into the Willenhall twenty two.

Willenhall hit back and it was clear, that despite a comfortable victory for Bucks in their earlier fixture, this game was going to be keenly contested. The first score came after about 10 minutes play when Willenhall had put Bucks under sustained pressure. A poor clearance kick was taken advantage of by Willenhall and a try resulted wide on the left wing. The long conversion attempt was not successful and Bucks found themselves behind (Bucks 0-5 Willenhall).

Bucks response took some time to materialise with Willenhall proving very difficult to break down. Frustrated by this Bucks finally began to play with some pattern and a series of rucks down the left hand side were secured in quick succession with Louis Sanders feeding the supporting Kieran Hall to score just to the left of the posts. Frank Simpsons conversion attempt was adjudged to have gone over the line of the right hand post by the referee despite both touch judges signalling it was successful (Bucks 5-5 Willenhall).

With about 20minutes play gone Bucks suffered a setback with the loss of Ross Harrison due to a twisted knee. Again the Bucks found Willenhall’s resistance very hard to overcome. They were rewarded for their territorial supremacy when Frank Simpson slotted home a penalty (Bucks 8-5 Willenhall). Then with almost half-an-hour gone, the next bit of sustained possession saw Louis Sanders go over for a try on the left-hand side. Frank Simpson added the conversion to increase their lead further (Bucks 15-5 Willenhall).

The game continued to be played in a very competitive manner, fortunately, with no signs of the “fisticuffs” that occurred in their earlier meeting. The Bucks’ next score did take too long in following – a penalty was awarded on the Willenhall twenty two, which was taken quickly by Bucks and very effectively moved through the backs hands for Matt Robinson to finish well in the right corner. A difficult conversion was missed and Bucks was increased (Bucks 20-5 Willenhall). Shortly after this the half-time whistle blew and Bucks went into the break with a healthy lead despite not being able to really dominate their opponents.

The second period once again saw dogged resistance by Willenhall and the Bucks were unable to get into any sort of rhythm. The game was now concentrated in the middle of the pitch and remained there for most of the half. A second injury to a Bucks player - this time Alex Nesbitt, who had shown his defensive and attacking quality on several occasions in the game - again proved to be somewhat unsettling. Tom Hughes was re-introduced following his half-time substitution at centre as his replacement.

It was not until late into the half that the stalemate was broken by Bucks who found themselves again in the Willenhall red zone following a good phase of play. Eventually Jacob Waddington crossed the Willenhall line for a well deserved try. Frank Simpson added a fine conversion (Bucks 27-5 Willenhall).
Some notable events of a somewhat drab second period were delivered by two Jacobs in the Bucks team - several “bone-crunching” tackles from Jacob Kitchen and a very solid display from Jacob Waddington in the back row.

Credit must be given to Willenhall who demonstrated an excellent attitude all morning and they got their rewards following a clever chip through and collection to score near to the posts. The conversion was added and the deficit reduced further (Bucks 27-12 Willenhall).

However what was probably the best moment of the game was still to occur. Frank Simpson, whose confidence has steadily increased in the last few weeks, produced a scintillating break through the Willenhall midfield and took play from the Bucks’ twenty two to the Willenhall one. No further scoring was to occur and the game ended with a victory for Bucks.

Captain’s man-of-the-match went deservedly to Frank Simpson for a fine performance at fly-half.