Burton Suffer Demoralising Defeat At Stourbridge

This was the first match of the second half of the Regional 1 Midlands season, and it was 2nd against 3rd as Burton travelled away to Stourbridge in good spirit following two consecutive wins against Broadstreet and Bromsgrove. However, they were completely outplayed in the second half as Stourbridge put in an impressive performance in which they seemingly scored tries at will as Burton could not cope with their intensity and support work in open play.
Unavailability meant wholesale changes to the backs line-up with Dom Phillips moving from full back to fly-half and Cyrus Griffiths switching from winger to full-back. Alex Nesbitt switched from outside to inside centre to allow Ben Meades to start his first game for some time at outside centre and Charles Austin started on the wing. In contrast the Burton pack had a somewhat more familiar look to it with an unchanged front five with Captain, Will Hopwood, Stephen Hunt and Andy Martin making up the back row. The bench, not for the first time this season, featured no backs but did give options to refresh and rest payers during the game.
Burton played with the strong breeze that was blowing down the length of the pitch, which is a 4G all-weather surface, so the game was likely to be played at a fast pace. A good deep kick off saw Stourbridge struggle to gain distance with their clearance kick, which presented Burton with the throw at a line-out on the right of the home “22”. Burton were first to apply pressure on the try line as they moved the ball from right to left and were stopped just short of the 5-metre line and with nothing materialising the referee went back for a penalty kick on the right. Burton continued to press for an early score as they won their second line-out and this time went through a series of forward drives but were once again just short of the line before losing possession from which Stourbridge kicked clear up to their own “22”.
In these early stages there were a number of opportunities for both teams to test out each other’s scrummaging strengths and it was the home team that had the upper hand in this area, and they were able to disrupt Burton, forcing several re-sets and so slowing the game right down. Burton were competing well at this stage and were winning a fair share of possession, without really being able to put the home defence under any significant pressure. Equally when Stourbridge had the ball Burton were not giving much away either and many of the moves in the game came to an end as a result of handling errors.
Burton began to put together several phases of play which saw them make progress into the home “22” as the first quarter of the game approached and were awarded a penalty just outside it, which they opted for an attempt at goal. Phillips did not disappoint as a great kick gave Burton the first points of the game after 20 minutes. Stourbridge 0-3 Burton. From the re-start Stourbridge seemed to up their game and began to gain more possession and territory, albeit well short of the Burton tryline. Their game was being hampered by errors but here was a sense that their first score was not far away.
There was then an injury blow for Burton as John Kirwan had to leave the pitch and Stephen Hunt replaced him. Even so as half time approached the score remained the same and Burton supporters were hopeful that their side could go in at the break with this slender lead. Joe Gazzard was then replaced by Luca Di Giovanni in an attempt to counter the Stourbridge scrum dominance. However as Stourbridge started to gain some momentum their strong pack began to make more progress towards the Burton line. With about 5 minutes to go before the break Stourbridge got their first points of the game when they forced their way over the line just to the right of the posts and took the lead with a converted try. Stourbridge 7-3 Burton.
From this point forward there was also a huge swing in the momentum of the game with Stourbridge beginning to impose themselves on what was becoming a very fragile Burton team. A deliberate knock-on by James Davies meant he would spend 10 minutes off the pitch and Stourbridge seized their opportunity and scored their second converted try on the stroke of half time. Stourbridge 14-3 Burton. At the break there were some worried looks on the home supporters in spite of the scoreline and numerous positive comments were exchanged with travelling Supporters.
However, after the break the game was really all one-way traffic as Stourbridge were ruthless in their attacking play, whilst Burton’s confidence and belief “fell off the edge of a cliff”. Stourbridge ran in a further 7 tries and ran out worthy but very easy winners, scoring a total of 43 points in the half, which went unanswered until the last play of the match when Burton scored a consolation try with a well worked catch and drive move from a line-out. Davies got the touchdown and Phillips added the conversion to take Burton into double figures. Stourbridge 57-10 Burton.
Burton face another massive challenge next week in their last game of the calendar year against Oxford Harlequins who thumped Broadstreet 97-7. At least the game is at our Battlestead Croft home but there will have to be a massive improvement if they are to get anything out of that game. Who knows perhaps Christmas will come early to the croft? Let’s hope so!