Burton Return To Winning Ways Against Bromsgrove

Burton came into this home fixture against Bromsgrove determined to put behind them the huge disappointment of their heavy defeat at Syston last week and the only change in their lineup was Dominic Taylor in for the injured Ed Henry. Burton kicked off playing with a stiff breeze at their backs from right to left looking from the stand. A very scrappy opening to the game saw handling errors from both sides as well as clearance kicks not making touch, but Burton were the first to put together a meaningful attack and were awarded a penalty for a high tackle on the left, which they kicked to touch and then embarked on one of their catch and drive moves which led to James Davies touching down in the left corner for the first points of the day. Dom Phillips was unable to add the conversion, but Burton had the early lead. Burton 5-0 Bromsgrove.
Burton enjoyed the lion’s share of possession in the first few minutes and kicked intelligently to keep Bromsgrove pinned deep in their own half. Eventually Burton were awarded a penalty in front of the posts for a high tackle and this time Phillips made no mistake to increase the lead to 8 points after 11 minutes. Burton 8-0 Bromsgrove. The visitors hit back shortly after when they regained possession and began to use their big forwards to try and find weaknesses in the Burton defence. After several phases of this they finally released their backs and scored their first try of the game after 11 minutes wide on the right. A difficult conversion was missed but the Burton lead was reduced to just 3 points. Burton 8-5 Bromsgrove.
Burton were soon under pressure again as Bromsgrove continued to play close to both sides of breakdown, but the Burton defence stood up to this well. Indeed they also competed well in the lineouts winning a Bromsgrove throw in and then clearing nicely up to the half-way line in response to this pressure. Slowly but surely Burton edged their way back into the Bromsgrove “22” with some great work in the rucks and mauls and some very slick handling moves in the backs despite the soggy conditions. Another penalty to burton was kicked to touch on the left and set up another catch and drive move that was executed with great skill and resulted in Davies getting his and Burton’s second try after 23 minutes. A great conversion by Phillips added the extras and Burton increased their lead to 10 points. Burton 15-5 Bromsgrove.
Bromsgrove set about reducing this deficit with a prolonged period of uninterrupted possession although the Burton defence made them work very hard for every metre they gained. Eventually Burton were penalised in front of their own posts just outside their own “22” and it was no surprise that Bromsgrove opted to attempt the penalty kick, which was successful. Burton 15-8 Bromsgrove. There was a lull in the scoring for almost 10 minutes, but the intensity of the game was extremely high as each side tried to get the upper hand. Eventually as Burton pressed deep in the Bromsgrove “22” a clearance kick was charged down over the try line and George Able was quickest to react to gat the touchdown with 3 minutes of the half remaining. An excellent conversion by Phillips ensured Burton opened up a pretty commanding lead. Burton 22-8 Bromsgrove. It was very pleasing that Burton continued to pressure the visitors in possession and nullify any chance of them responding before the half-time whistle blew and Burton could be very pleased with their game management at this stage.
The second half started with Bromsgrove kicking deep to try and pressurise Burton but the back three for Burton were in no mood to let this pressure affect them as they all made excellent clearances against a strengthening breeze as the game went on. Whilst Burton were enjoying scrum time for the majority of the match Bromsgrove won themselves a penalty with their first really dominant drive of the game 10 minutes into the second half. A successful kick at goal led to the first points of the half and a slight reduction of the deficit. Burton 22-11 Bromsgrove. However they followed this up quickly with their second try of the game just 2 minutes later following the re-start kick which went straight into touch, a well-executed handling move down the right from the scrum on the centre spot to score in the right corner. The difficult conversion was unsuccessful, but it felt like it was game on once again. Burton 22-16 Bromsgrove.
Burton continued to press over the next 10 minutes or so and almost unlocked the Bromsgrove defence again with a kick through from Nial Collett which was picked up by Alex Nesbitt, but he was tap-tackled just inside the visitors’ “22” and the immediate threat was curtailed. The visitors were at this stage clinging on with all their might and were then reduced to 14 players when their final defender deliberately knocked on a pass to Will Derry with the line at his mercy. However Burton secured their bonus point try from the resulting lineout with a third catch and drive try for Davies after 64 minutes. The conversion attempt found the breeze too strong and fell just short, but Burton were closing in on a much needed and deserved win. Burton 27-16 Bromsgrove.
It was no surprise that there was a response from Bromsgrove and just 4 minutes later they were back to within one score. Burton were firstly penalised in front of their own posts and surprisingly Bromsgrove opted to kick the penalty rather than go for the kick to touch and catch and drive. On reflection though Burton had enjoyed dominance in this area, so it was probably the correct option. The easy penalty was converted to make the score Burton 27-19 Bromsgrove. A second penalty followed within a minute as Bromsgrove made a huge effort to get themselves into much closer contention. This too was converted and all of a sudden it was a one score game. Burton 27-22 Bromsgrove.
Bromsgrove fancied their chances now and the nerves were beginning to show in the Burton camp. From the re-start Bromsgrove made enormous strides into the Burton half as a missed tackle handed the visitors’ the initiative and they took it with glee until Burton regrouped and recovered their composure once again and started to play in the right areas of the pitch and control the tempo of the game. Having done this they were rewarded with progress into the Bromsgrove “22” and eventually the award of a penalty which Phillips converted very nicely to take burton’s lead critically to 8 points with just over 2 minutes remaining. Burton 30-22 Bromsgrove.
From the re-start Burton supporters were nervously hoping time would soon be up but the team again got their game management almost perfect as they were able to retain possession and see it out to the final whistle. There would be another anxious few seconds when Burton kicked away possession, but a Bromsgrove handling error presented Burton with the put-in at a scrum and they were able to clear the ball off the field of play which signalled the end of the game and an excellent bounce back from the low of last week. Burton move up to 3rd in the Midlands Regional 1 table, 3 points ahead of Bromsgrove who slip to 5th. There is another rest week next week but Burton return to action when they travel to Broadstreet on 2nd December.