Burton Secure Win over committed Burntwood

Burton under 17’s v Burntwood 10th October 2010

Burton entertained Burntwood in this friendly match on a perfect autumn morning on the Oxhay.

Whilst 10:10:10 is reputed to be the luckiest day of the century, it was not to be so for Burntwood. From the first the Burton players were up and in the faces of their opponents. After 5 minutes Alex Cooke at fly-half panicked his opposite number into a hasty pass which was intercepted by Jordan-Turner at centre who went over for the try, which he duly converted.

The Burntwood re-start was collected by Burton, the ball chipped forward by Chesterman at flanker. Burntwood won the scrum but good pressure from Wardega at No 8 led to an infringement. The penalty was taken quickly by the scrum-half, the ball moving along the back line. Despite a misplaced pass the loose ball was picked up on the first bounce by Joe Bird on the left-wing, going over for the second try in the corner after less than 10 minutes.

The next re-start was well taken by Michael Cooke, the ball coming back for the clearance kick which was well charged down. Burton cleared their lines and attacked both sides of the pitch, re-circulating the ball with good forward pressure. Burntwood were penalised, quick thinking captain Armitage, who was effective in seizing loose ball throughout the match, taking it quickly to go over, although held up by a determined Burntwood defence. There were a series of infringements by each side, although the score remained 12:0 at half-time.

At start of the second half Burton took the game straight to their opponents with crisp passing and a driving run and offload from Ashley Allum. Nick Cuffley made good ground on the right. Bunting at fly-half exchanged passes with Allum to create space, passing to fly-half and onward to inside centre. A quickly taken penalty by Bunting found Henry Andrew who made a good driving run on the right, offloading in the tackle to Bunting on the loop who scored in the corner.

A series of substitutions were made and the forwards were beginning to take control of the scrum and line-out, linking effectively and quickly with their back line which, with fresh legs, was punching holes in a reeling Burntwood defence. Chris Brown at centre collected a low pass on the run and went through for a try which was converted by Seb Chesterman.

Counter-attacks by Burntwood were dealt with effectively by the Burton defence. Sam Wardega made a strong run toward the centre of the Burntwood line, was tackled and offloaded to sprinting prop Shay Kavanagh who went over for the try. This was again converted by Chesterman.

The Burntwood re-start was well taken by Nick Cuffley. Burntwood were penalised, quickly taken by Eddie Runagle, offloading to Cuffley who was able to finish the move he started with a try in the corner. This was superbly converted by Chesterman.

The Burton backs were looking confident with Runagle making a great run through the Burntwood half, well supported by Lewis Slack on the left-wing who drew a player and created the space for Runagle to go through for the final try.

The match finished with the final score 43:0 to Burton, and a solid all-round performance from the entire team.