Following a much-improved performance last week against Kenilworth, Burton knew they had to improve again this week to stand any chance of leaving Bridgnorth with anything to show for their efforts. This they did in bucket loads with a performance that was full of effort, heart and skill, but for the second week running they were frustrated to fall just short of a better result which was within their grasp. There were a number of changes to the team that started last week with John Kirwan in for Callum Donnelly, Chaz Bunting in for Jack Ingram and welcome returns for Harry Titley at fly-half, Tommy Collingwood and Josh Cartwright (on the bench). Jack Ingram was named as a replacement and Andy Martin started on the wing. Burton wore their changed kit of red shirts, black shorts, and red and white socks.
Bridgnorth managed to retain possession from the kick off and soon found themselves deep in the Burton half, but the defence was good and Bridgnorth were eventually penalised allowing Burton to clear the danger up field. Bridgnorth soon returned and were camped on the Burton try-line for quite some time. To the relief of the travelling Burton supporters the defensive work was again good but eventually Bridgnorth did get their reward with an unconverted try in the right-hand corner after almost 8 minutes. Bridgnorth 5-0 Burton.
The re-start did not appear to be touched by a Bridgnorth player but Burton were awarded the throw at the resulting line-out just short of the Bridgnorth ”22” on the right. From this the forwards executed an excellent catch and drive which progressed all the way to then try-line but Bridgnorth were adjudged to have held the ball up so the referee went back for the penalty on the 5-metre line, but failed to take any further action to surprise of Burton supporters. The level of surprise was even greater when another similar offence was committed by the home team and to make matters worse a scrum was awarded to the home team, which allowed them to clear the ball up to their own 10-metre line.
Burton then opened their account with a beautiful handling move which involved most of the backline and started in their own half following a box kick from Bridgnorth on the Burton right. The support play and handling ability, particularly from Tristan DeJager, Jamie Dutton and Bunting was a joy to see as Bunting went over for the try close to the posts. Bunting added the conversion to give Burton the lead mid-way through the half. Bridgnorth 5-7 Burton.
Th re-start, which has been an issue on several occasions this season was taken very well by Alex Nesbitt and Burton gained territory following a box kick return from Bridgnorth going straight into touch. Burton were looking very good in the lineouts and mauls and made substantial ground again with a dominant rolling maul despite their lighter pack compared to Bridgnorth. In the set scrum, however Bridgnorth were beginning to dominate and caused Burton major problems, which slowed the ball and did not give the backs much of a platform to demonstrate their superior handling ability again.
With the game now taking place in centre field there was a period where there was no real threat on either try line for some time. It was Burton though that had the next opportunity to add to their score as a grubber kick though the Bridgnorth back line just evaded the hands of Nesbitt who would have surly scored and the home team were able to clear. As half-time approached it was Bridgnorth who looked the more likely to score but they were let down on two or three occasions by a combination of the resilient Burton defensive efforts and their own handling, so the score remained the unchanged at the interval.
The second half started very badly for Burton as Bridgnorth benefitted from the referee not seeing a massive forward pass in the build up to them touching down beneath the posts with barely a minute gone. A successful conversion this time handed the lead back to the home side. Bridgnorth 12-7 Burton.
Shortly after Burton were forced to make changes as injuries to Ben Smith, DeJager and Dutton meant Tommie Collingwood and Jack Ingram were introduced while Dutton was able to continue. With Bridgnorth beginning to get the upper hand in the game, Burton worked tirelessly to keep their opponents from adding to their score and this worked for the next 10 or 15 minutes. However Bridgnorth did score again following a sustained period of pressure and territory saw them break through following what seemed like phase after phase where they kept the ball close to the breakdowns eventually breaching the tiring Burton defensive line. The conversion was missed so Bridgnorth now led by 10 points with just over 20 minutes to play. Bridgnorth 17-7 Burton.
Burton’s response was admirable as they forced their way into the danger zone on the left but Bridgnorth showed their defensive ability and kept their visitors out. A massive clearance kick eventually saw them back into the Burton danger zone but their efforts went unrewarded this time as Burton exited very well up to the half-way line. Having used the kick though to good effect earlier in the half Burton’s attempt to repeat that were harshly penalised for offside when the chasing Burton backs looked like they were in with a chance of scoring.
Rather like the swing of a pendulum, Bridgnorth were next to threaten the Burton line and thought they had scored wide on the right, but the referee’s decision was to award Burton a drop out from behind the try line. Meanwhile back up the other end Burton were denied a big opportunity to reduce the deficit following a short “22” metre drop out, Bridgnorth failed to gather the ball and just when it looked odds on that Burton would break away to score inexplicably, the referee stopped the game and awarded Burton the put-in at a scrum for a knock-on rather than allowing advantage?
However Burton did keep the pressure on the home team by winning the scrum and forcing another lineout on the 5-metre line on the left setting up another driving maul, which was beautifully executed by the Burton forwards forcing the home team to collapse it just before it crossed the try line and the referee had no hesitation in awarding Burton a penalty try and a yellow card to the Bridgnorth offender with almost 7 minutes to play. Bridgnorth 17-14 Burton. Bridgnorth responded as they took play back into the Burton danger zone with some powerful forward play, which eventually came to a halt as Burton were penalised for holding on right in front of their own posts. Unsurprisingly Bridgnorth went for the points to use up a bit of time and increased their lead to 6 points with around 4 minutes left. Bridgnorth 20-14 Burton.
This signalled another monumental effort by the Burton team to get back into the Bridgnorth danger zone and set up camp on the try line similar to the way they unsuccessfully tried the previous week against Kenilworth. Burton thought they had a case for another penalty try as another maul was taken to the ground in very similar fashion to the one earlier. Unfortunately the referee did not come to the same conclusion and Burton had to settle for just the single losing bonus point. On the balance of play the result was the right one but Burton should be very proud of how close they came to upsetting another of the league’s top teams. The single point puts Burton back into the top half of the table in 6th position just one point in front of local rivals, Derby.