Disappointing Loss At Kenilworth

Burton travelled to Kenilworth looking to extend their unbeaten run to 4 games but knew that another hard-fought encounter would face them against the team that sat just 1 place below them in the league table. Conditions were surprisingly good under foot despite the torrential rain in the latter part of the week and with very little wind a fast open game was anticipated. The home team kicked off deep into Burton’s “22” and the return kick by Burton failed to reach touch and was immediately kicked back to full-back Dom Phillips who called for the mark. The 2 teams exchanged kicks again with the net territorial gain going the way of Kenilworth as Burton had the throw at a line-out on their own “22” on the left. The aerial battle continued further in these early exchanges, and it was Burton who won the next round back up to the home 22 metre line.
A good catch and drive move took Burton much closer to the try line. From the next line-out Burton looked to move the ball through the hands and George Able made a half-break and looked to off-load to fellow centre Alex Nesbitt but the pass did not find him, and a promising opportunity came to nothing. The next few minutes was dominated by the home team, and they progressed into the Burton half where they were awarded a penalty for not rolling away and Kenilworth decided to kick for goal but missed narrowly to the left, so the game remained scoreless.
Both sides were finding it difficult to break one another down as play fluctuated between both “22”’s and the most likely way of accumulating points appeared to be through kicking a penalty. Burton had the upper hand in the scrums, where they were able to shove the home scrum backwards at quite a pace on several occasions. Although both teams did eventually get into their opponents’ danger zone it was 20 minutes before the first score was registered and it went to Burton with a straightforward kick by Will Simpson from in front of the posts as Kenilworth were penalised for going off their feet. Kenilworth 0-3 Burton.
An almost immediate response from Kenilworth occurred as they regained possession after the re-start and opened up the Burton with some good handling including an excellent offload to score the first try of the game after 22 minutes in the left corner and a superb conversion gave them a maximum 7 points. Kenilworth 7-3 Burton. A mistake from the re-start by Kenilworth gave Burton a line-out on the left at the “22”, but a misplaced pass in centre field meant they lost ground and then a knock-on handed Kenilworth a scrum on half-way. Burton’s scrum was dominant once again and Chaz Bunting kicked well from its base for a line-out on the Kenilworth 5-metre line. The home team ambitiously ran the ball from this area and were rewarded with a big gain in territory as they almost reached the half-way line.
Burton managed to regain possession but struggled to put together phases of play as a number of simple errors entered in their game. There was then the strangest event of the game when one of the home props took it upon himself to end his game early as he removed his shirt and walked off the field of play, forcing a replacement to me made at this stage. Burton were next to mount an attack which started with a line-out, well outside the home “22” and finished just short of the line with a penalty awarded against them for holding on. With Burton’s dominance in the scrum causing all sorts of problems it seemed only a matter of time that they would be able to convert this pressure into points.
An injury to Simpson meant a re-shuffle of the backs as Cirus Griffiths came on at full-back and Phillips switched to fly-half. Despite this disruption, Burton continued to play with real heart and no lack of effort but were frustrated by an increasing amount of errors. As they mounted more pressure on the Kenilworth the penalty count against them was mounting steadily and the this was pointed out when the referee spoke to the home captain. Unfortunately burton were unable to add to their score before the half time whistle blew, but they were far from out of the game at this stage.
The second half began with Burton lapsing into their defensive frailties and conceding a very soft try to the hosts with the first attack of the half. The conversion was added, and Kenilworth’s lead was stretched to 11 points with barely 2 minutes of the half gone. Kenilworth 14-3 Burton. Things got worse just 4 minutes later as Kenilworth scored their third converted try of the game on the left with the Burton defence once again sadly lacking. Kenilworth 21-3 Burton. If Burton were to get anything out of this game, they had to be the next to score and indeed they were as they hit back just 3 minutes and James Davies got the touchdown following a great surging drive by the Burton forwards. Phillips added the conversion and Burton were back in the game. Kenilworth 21-10 Burton.
A resurgent Burton threw everything they had at Kenilworth and almost reduced the deficit further with their most fluent handling of the match, but Charles Austin was forced into touch agonisingly close to the try line on the right. Excellent defending on their own line by Kenilworth denied Burton a further score at this stage and then they managed to make their way back into the Burton half, where Burton were penalised, and Kenilworth stretched their lead further with a successful kick at goal with a little over 20 minutes of the game remaining. Kenilworth 24-10 Burton.
A good response from Burton led to them scoring their second try of the game and close the deficit to just 7 points once again. The try came following a grubber kick through into the danger zone, followed up very well by Will Derry who caused panic in the home defence and as the ball went lose inside the in-goal area and Will Hopwood was on hand to get the important touchdown. Phillips struck an excellent conversion, and the sides were separated by just one score again. Kenilworth 24-17 Burton.
Burton continued to pile the pressure on the home defence in search of what would have been an important and well-deserved win, but their progress was hampered by their own errors and a number of inconsistent refereeing decisions. Burton’s cause was further disrupted by an injury to Luca Di Giovani who had to leave the field. As the half progressed it was Kenilworth who started to dominate possession and were happy to just play out time or so it seemed. However they did get their bonus point try with just 3 minutes remaining although the Burton supporters who had travelled were dismayed that their progress had not been halted by the referee’s whistle on several occasions during the lead up to this score. Even though the conversion was unsuccessful Burton were facing a journey home with nothing to show for their considerable efforts. Kenilworth 29-17 Burton.
Fear not though, the Burton spirit and never give up attitude rose to the fore once again and with the last play of the game they rescued a losing bonus point with a driving maul following a line-out and Davies got his second try of the game. A difficult conversion just missed the target, and the full-time whistle was blown with the final score Kenilworth 29-22 Burton. The defeat sees Burton drop to 6th in the league whilst Kenilworth move up to 4th. With another rest weekend next week this gives Burton the chance to put a few things right before the next three games against Banbury, Syston and Bromsgrove who, like Burton, are all in the top half of the league.