Big Win For Burton But At A Cost

Burton picked up from where they left off at Bromsgrove last week and produced some scintillating rugby in a crushing defeat of bottom club Broadstreet, running in 11 tries in total and extinguished any hope of them building on a first victory of the season gained at Old Halesonians last week. The Burton starting XV looked strong on paper and included youngster, Connor Hutchinson at scrumhalf along with John Kirwan and Tristan DeJager who were missing last week.
Burton started the game with a high tempo and put pressure on Broadstreet immediately after the kick-off as their visitors looked to run the ball out of their half. The first decisive action of the game came from Burton who looked to move the ball from right to left from their own 10-metre line. Alex Nesbitt made a great break to open up the Broadstreet defence and then he fed the supporting Will Derry who finished off the move and scored in the left corner in the 2nd minute. The conversion into the face of a strong cross wind proved too much for Dom Phillips’ conversion. Burton 5-0 Broadstreet.
The re-start went deep into the Burton half where Will Simpson returned the kick to the Broadstreet 10-metre line on the left. The usual early exchanges saw both teams testing each other out and it was Burton who seemed to present the most threat as Broadstreet struggled to penetrate the home defence. Broadstreet did get into the Burton “22” courtesy of a penalty for a high tackle but they were unable to get any further and Burton eventually cleared the ball downfield and a good kick chase from DeJager meant Burton were able to mount a second attack from within the “22” on the left. A great catch and drive from a lineout was touched down on the left by James Davies after 11 minutes and Phillips this time made sure with the conversion. Burton 12-0 Broadstreet.
Burton had a lucky escape following the kick-off as an attempted clearance kick was charged down, but Broadstreet knocked on as they looked likely to score. A scrum penalty to Burton gave them the opportunity to relieve pressure although the kick to touch did not go as far as expected. Burton were patient and enjoyed their first period of prolonged possession. Both sides were finding the wind was making handling rugby very difficult and Simpson decided to kick long using the cross wind to help take the ball into touch from inside his “22”. Almost mid-way through the first half and Broadstreet were awarded a scrum following a knock on and this was the signal for Burton to increase the pressure once again. A scrum penalty was secured and a kick to touch set up another catch and drive play inside the Broadstreet “22”. This was executed perfectly, and Davies was the scorer once again to the left of the posts. Phillips added the conversion and opened up a 19-point lead. Burton 19-0 Broadstreet.
The next few minutes proved rather scrappy as neither side could really get to grips with the conditions, but Burton were beginning to dominate the scrums and gained several penalties as a consequence. With these they were able to keep Broadstreet pinned in their own half even though they did not have much in the way of possession. An injury to Hutchinson saw him leave the field and George Abel came on to replace him. Abel acquitted himself very well and Burton continued to win more than their fair share of the ball. With just over 10 minutes to go before the break, Burton scored their bonus point try following a patient build up, Phillips broke through the visitors’ defence and scored under the posts. He duly converted his own try to give Burton a very healthy lead. Burton 26-0 Broadstreet.
Burton could sense a big win on the cards now and were relentless in their efforts to dominate territory, forcing a “22” drop out, which they soon ran back into the danger zone. Broadstreet heads were beginning to drop a little, although they were working so hard, eventually another breakthrough occurred as Dominic Taylor exposed a gap and went through to score under the posts once again. A successful conversion followed from Phillips, and with a little over 5 minutes remaining Burton looked in total control. Burton 33-0 Broadstreet. Despite the scoreline Broadstreet kept on playing and were rewarded with possession deep in the Burton half. A knock on brought a disappointing end to their search for their first score and with that the half time whistle blew.
The second half began with Burton in full flow as Nesbitt again went on a great run through midfield, but he was unable to find a teammate with his offload as Broadstreet knocked on. Burton were penalised at the scrum, which allowed them to kick into the Burton “22”. Indeed they made their way right up to the 5-metre line but great work in the maul helped Burton secure a turnover and the ball was cleared. Great work by several Burton players forced Broadstreet into touch for another Burton lineout. Burton then suffered a second injury blow when Nesbitt was again looking dangerous with the ball in his hands, but he fell awkwardly as he was tackled and suffered a serious shoulder injury which forced him to leave the field and rules him out for the rest of the season.
Without another backs replacement Burton had to juggle their pack a little and such was their overall dominance now they were able to continue scoring points for the remainder of the game. A phase of play which saw some great offloading took play back into the Broadstreet “22” who were penalised for offside. A good kick to touch from Simpson gave Burton a lineout on the 5-metre line and another catch and drive try went to Davies 10 minutes into the half. Phillips added the conversion to take Burton further ahead. Burton 40-0 Broadstreet.
The next to score for Burton was just 5 minutes later from replacement Tommy Collingwood on the left, following a great break in midfield by Will Derry. Phillips’ conversion was again good. Burton 47-0 Broadstreet. To their great credit Broadstreet continued work hard and disrupt the home team as much as possible. This worked well for about 8 minutes when DeJager fielded a clearance kick almost on halfway and showed speed and strength to break through the Broadstreet defence to score a brilliant individual try on the right. Phillips again added the conversion. Burton 54-0 Broadstreet.
Another great individual try was then scored after 27 minutes by Abel who picked up from a scrum on the right and beat the covering defence with a wonderful sidestep. Phillips this time missed narrowly with the conversion. Burton 59-0 Broadstreet. The re-start was kicked long, and the Burton return kick went straight out from outside the “22”. Broadstreet were penalised at the resulting lineout giving Burton the chance to clear once again on the right. This they did and set up another catch and drive opportunity from outside the “22”. A perfect execution saw Collingwood again the beneficiary scoring the try on the right with just over 30 minutes played.t. Phillips could not master the wind this time either, but Burton had increased their commanding lead further. Burton 64-0 Broadstreet.
A yellow card was then shown to replacement, Archie Mitchell and this evened the game up a little as Broadstreet still kept on battling in an attempt to get themselves on the scoreboard. However, they just failed to get over the try line following several phases of possession and Burton were able to clear up field once again. A knock on by Broadstreet on their own 10-metre line gave Burton the scrum and they were able to make their way up to the “22” in the centre of the pitch. The number of players on each side was evened up when a deliberate knock on resulted in a Broadstreet yellow card. Burton opted for the scrum and drove Broadstreet back almost to their own try line. When the ball was recycled in what was to be the last play of the game, Kirwan went over for Burton’s final try which was converted by Phillips leaving the final score Burton 71-0 Broadstreet. Player of the match went to Kirwan who was outstanding in the Burton pack.
The result sees Burton leapfrog Stoke, who rather surprisingly lost to Old Halesonians, into 5th position in Regional Midlands 1 with just one game to play in 2 weeks’ time against the latter. So long as they win that game Burton cannot finish any lower than 5th.