Following last week’s tense win over Nuneaton, Burton’s first home game of the season against Oundle was likely to be another close encounter, particularly considering the visitors surprising win over Bromsgrove in their first outing. The game coincided with the second of the club’s party-on-the-pitch community event and thankfully the weather was kind and once again the very large crowd were treated to a good Burton win. Just 24 hours earlier there was some doubt as to the fixture going ahead following the very sad news of Queen Elizabeth II’s death on Thursday. Thankfully, the RFU made the call to play all matches as planned. Prior to kick-off there was a minute’s silence in honour of the Queen, the crowd and players from all teams playing at Battlestead Croft and a wonderful representation of the club’s mini-junior section all stood together in unity as a fitting remembrance of her majesty. There was also a specially erected Union flag, which was flown at half-mast in her honour and the national anthem was played.
There were a small number of changes to the Burton line-up with winger Henry Knox making his debut and Joe Gazzard making a welcome return at second row. The early action saw Oundle make an impressive start in terms of possession but excellent Burton defending meant the visitors made little headway. Eventually Burton were awarded the game’s first penalty just inside the visitors’ half. Jamie Dutton’s kick gave Burton the throw at a lineout just inside the Oundle “22”. A well-executed catch and drive meant Burton were the first to threaten. A promising move followed and unfortunately the ball was knocked out of Will Simpson’s hand just as he was about to link to fellow centre Alex Nesbitt who would have had a clear run in to the try line. Oundle were able to clear to beyond the “22”.
Burton recognised their early dominance in the lineout and executed well once again this time drawing a penalty from the visitors for coming round offside in their attempt to subdue the home drive. A good kick from Dutton gave Burton another lineout just outside the 5-metre line. Oundle managed to turnover the ball and cleared the Burton threat with some good handling possession right up to the half-way line, albeit the Burton defence made it very slow and difficult progress for the visitors. Oundle then made their first foray into the home “22” courtesy of a penalty kick and lineout. They then opened the scoring after about 8 minutes following a long pass from left to right which beat the Burton rush defence attempted interception. The conversion was unsuccessful, so Oundle’s lead was just 5 points. Burton 0-5 Oundle.
Oundle were very quick to return to the Burton danger zone and the home defence had to work hard to stop them adding to their lead. Unsurprisingly the pressure told on Burton with several penalties against them. Burton supporters were able to relax a little when, eventually Oundle were, themselves penalised at a breakdown, allowing Burton to clear up to midway between the “22” and the Burton 10-metre line. It was then Burton’s turn to show their attacking prowess as they made their way up to the Oundle “22” through some very attractive handling rugby. Good off-loading from Burton took them well inside the Oundle “22”. The move was halted due to a forward pass by Oundle after Burton had somehow lost possession.
The game was lacking in momentum as both sides struggled to put together numerous phases of play either through good defensive work or handling errors, of which there seemed to be plenty. Slow formation of the resulting scrummages and re-setting of the same did nothing to get the large crowd really excited during this period of the game. Despite this Burton were enjoying their first sustained period of possession and territory deep in the Oundle half. At the next penalty award Burton gained an additional 10 metres due to backchat from Oundle and Burton opted for a scrum on the Oundle 5 metre line. Home supporters were sensing a real opportunity for a Burton push-over try given their dominance in the scrums so far.
Instead, Burton moved the ball beautifully from left to right, where Nesbitt stepped inside and then found Dominic Tydeman who scored in the right-hand corner for Burton’s first try of the game midway through the first half. An excellent conversion from Chaz Bunting gave burton the lead. Burton7-5 Oundle.
From the re-start Burton were quick to apply further defensive pressure upon Oundle and they were rewarded with the put-in at another scrum courtesy of a knock-on by the visitors. Burton were finding great encouragement with this approach and the home crowd sensed the potential for more home team scores in the remainder of the half and beyond. Another excellent handling move by Burton was then finished off by Nesbitt who scored Burton’s second try of the game after 25 minutes. Bunting’s kick missed narrowly so the lead increased to Burton 12-5 Oundle.
From the re-start a Burton player was taken out in the air so penalty to Burton. The kick for touch was collected by an Oundle defender before it had gone out, so Burton had to settle for their lineout on the Oundle 10-metre line. Burton then enjoyed a sustained period of possession as they went in search of further scores and switched their point of attack between forwards and backs seamlessly, however several handling errors from both sides meant the action was rather punctuated with stoppages, which seemed to take an eternity to set up and in some cases re-set.
Burton maintained their dominance of the scrum with another good drive leading to a further penalty award. Bunting was asked to attempt the kick for goal but was just off target with just over 7 minutes to go until half-time. With play still deep in Oundle territory Burton thought they had scored a further try following a charge-down of an attempted clearance but the referee deemed the charge-down to be a knock-on and awarded a scrum to Oundle on their own 5-metre line on the left-hand side. Following a lengthy injury delay to an Oundle player, who was eventually good to continue, the scrum took place, and this led to Burton’s third try of the game in the left corner with Lewis Sturgess getting the touchdown. Bunting just missed the difficult conversion, but Burton’s lead had increased with just a couple of minutes of the half remaining. Burton 17-5 Oundle.
From the re-start Burton were the guilty party, taking an Oundle player out in the air, again not dangerous, just a little careless and unnecessary. From the resulting lineout Oundle were penalised for pulling down and Burton cleared to half-way. This rather scrappy period of play was ended by another good handling move from Burton as they made their way right up to the Oundle 5-metre line once again. However, they were not able to convert this pressure into points as an Oundle clearance signalled the end or the half.
The second half commenced with an increasing breeze blowing in the faces of the Burton team and was immediately apparent at the Burton’s first line-out of the half, which was blown substantially offline. Oundle opted for another line-out with their throw. The first threatening passage of play came from the home side after a promising handling move was ended by an alleged forward pass, much to the disappointment of the large home crowd. As Burton continued to be a threat Oundle began to panic a little and although several penalty offences went unpunished a deliberate knock-on was eventually given. In the face of this Burton really struggled to build any sort of momentum in their game – normally a strong point in their performances.
The half was about 7 minutes old when Burton finally added to their half time lead, and it was Tommy Collingwood who got the touchdown for the try bonus point score following an impressive catch and drive move by the pack. Bunting was just wide again with another difficult kick, which was visibly held up in the increasing breeze. Burton 22-5 Oundle. Oundle then enjoyed their own period of possession, but this came to nothing as they were penalised for going over the top of the ball in a maul. Another injury to an Oundle player delayed the re-commencement of the game further and the constant stop/start in the game was a real problem for Burton who thrive on a high tempo. Even so this did not stop Burton attempting to create their own momentum with a slick handling move from right to left. Having spoken to the Oundle captain on several occasions, the referee lost his patience with them and issued two yellow cards in quick succession and the crowd sensed Burton could make the result safe with their numerical advantage during the next few minutes. However, to their great credit Oundle rallied and made life very difficult for Burton to do so. Finally, Burton were able to break through with the ball being moved from left to right, deep in the danger zone Will Derry was on hand to get the touchdown for Burton’s 5th try of the game in the right corner after almost 13 minutes. Again, the kick was missed narrowly but Burton seemed to have built an unassailable lead. Burton 27-5 Oundle.
Burton tried to get themselves going with another fine handling move. Nesbitt’s pass to Will Derry just eluded him in the contact when he would have had a clear run in to score. Burton’s scrum dominance continued as they were awarded a penalty just inside the “22” on the left. A kick for touch took Burton almost to the 5-metre line on the left and another catch and drive was anticipated by the home crowd. Oundle, however had other ideas and successfully rebuffed that. However, penalties were coming Burton’s way with some regularity, which enabled Burton to keep the pressure on, although because of the stoppages Burton were frustrated in not being able to build momentum.
Oundle then benefitted from getting back to full numbers on the pitch and began to retain possession of the ball for prolonged periods. They were met by a solid defensive Burton wall and found it hard to make much in terms of headway. Despite this Oundle did make slow progress into the Burton half. Eventually the Burton defence was breached and Oundle scored there second try of the game just over halfway through the second period. The try went unconverted, so the score was now Burton 27-10 Oundle.
A welcome return to action was made by the new first team coach, Harry Titley when he replaced Dom Tydeman. Oundle retained possession again shortly after the re-start and were in no mood to relinquish it to the home team. A brief counterattack from the home team came to nothing and Burton were forced to do more defending. The rest of the half saw a similar pattern of play mostly in the Burton half but with little ground gained nor lost by either side.
It was Oundle’s turn to witness great disappointment just before the end of the game as they exposed a rather one-sided Burton defensive line on the left-hand side and scored what would have been another consolation try. However, the Oundle linesman showed commendable impartiality and fairness by signalling that his own player had stepped into touch just inside the Burton “22” and the try was not given. From thereon Burton saw out the remaining minutes without any further scares to end up deserved winners. Other results went in their favour and Burton are the only side to have achieved bonus point wins in both of their two games. Next week they travel as league leaders to bottom placed Stoke. Man of the match was awarded to Jamie Dutton for an assured and mature display at fly-half.