Lions lack final bite

The first half saw Burton playing against the wind. For most of that time Burton were camped in their own half having to defend. With only one regular front row player available, Ian Evans, the pack did especially well, with prop Marcus Smith making his debut. James Bates at hooker won all but one of the Burton put ins at the scrum. Burton had to defend wave after wave of attack from Oadby. The forwards put in tackle after tackle with Evans and Sam Halton leading the way. Ross Burrows, Ben Shaw and Sam Turner were also knocking over their opposite numbers but Oadby managed to score three tries and they were leading 17 – 0 at half time.
There were high hopes that Burton would come back strongly in the second half with the wind behind them, but they failed to use the wind making it much easier for Oadby, whose fourth try was the best of the match involving several players, as each was well tackled they had support and were able to score under the posts. Sam Wardega, captain for the day, went on charge after charge but was always tackled and Burton weren’t able to keep on the pressure after the tackle. Evans and Halton also had some useful runs but they couldn’t breach the Oadby try line. New boy Smith came as close as anybody but was tackled just short of the line. Oadby scored one more try to win the match 27 – 0.