Burton End 2023 With Another Heavy Defeat At Home To Oxford Harlequins

Burton started the game against league leaders Oxford Harlequins knowing a much-improved performance from last week at Stourbridge was necessary if they were to be in with a chance of getting anything from this game. The early stages saw them dominate possession and make steady progress into the visitors’ half and the home supporters were given great encouragement that this would be the case as they took an early lead with a well struck penalty kick from Dom Phillips in the second minute. Burton 3-0 Oxford Harlequins. Josh Kent made a welcome return to the team in the back row.
Oxford Harlequins enjoyed their first period of possession after the re-start with some impressive running and offloading from their big forwards which meant the Burton defence would have to be at its very best for the full 80 minutes. For now though Burton were able to keep their visitors at bay, but it was almost all one-way traffic for the next few minutes. Eventually Burton could hold out no longer and Oxford Harlequins scored the first try of the game after about 10 minutes, which was successfully converted. Burton 3-7 Oxford Harlequins.
Burton’s bright start to the match did continue for a little while but a number of basic errors were stopping them from building any sort of momentum or flow into their game which only served to give their visitors encouragement, which they pounced upon with more strong running with the ball in hand. Mid way through the first half Burton were awarded a penalty on the visitors’ 10-metre line but Phillips kick just missed to the left of the posts and the game was re-started with a drop-out from between the posts even though it appeared to touch an Oxford Harlequins hand before it went dead.
The game at this stage was evenly poised but Oxford Harlequins looked the more dangerous side when in possession. Burton were still being frustrated by a combination of their own errors and some quite bewildering refereeing decisions which combined to make Burton’s afternoon an increasingly difficult one. With almost 30 minutes of the half played, Oxford Harlequins took an opportunity after Burton had lost possession and scored their second try of the day on the left. This time the well struck kick hit the upright and stayed out. Burton 3-12 Oxford Harlequins.
On the stroke of half time Oxford Harlequins got their third try of the game rather fortuitously when their own wild line-out throw went right over the back of their line and then bounced favourably into the hands of one of their players who reacted first and ran unchallenged to score just to the left of the posts. A successful conversion meant they went into the break with a bigger lead than they would have expected. Burton 3-19 Oxford Harlequins. No doubt the talk in the Burton dressing room at the break was all about trying to stay in the game by scoring first in the second half and cut out the silly errors that had hampered their game so far.
Unfortunately for Burton those errors continued and that all-important first score in the early stages of the half did not materialise. On the plus side for Burton they did not concede an early try either so were still very much in the game. However they did get the next try after 10 minutes which secured their bonus point and stretched their lead further. Burton 3-24 Oxford Harlequins. Burton were competing enthusiastically and felt very aggrieved when, as the mid-point of the half approached, Oxford Harlequins scored on the right following a good handling move which contained a pass that almost everyone at the game saw was forward, however the referee signalled for the touchdown to the dismay of the Burton team and spectators alike. A great conversion rubbed salt into the wound and put the game well out of Burton’s reach. Burton 3-31 Oxford Harlequins.
There were two further tries for Oxford Harlequins before the end of the game, to give them a bigger margin of victory even though to their great credit Burton who continued to play good rugby showing great spirit once again. They will, no doubt, be thankful for the festive break and look forward to 2024 when injuries are healed and improved results can be achieved quickly with a return to playing the sort of rugby all Burton supporters can enjoy. After today’s results Burton stay in 4th position in the league table a point ahead of Banbury and 3 ahead of Bromsgrove but have played 2 games more.