After fifty minutes play Burton looked home and dry but then thirty minutes of inexperience leading to panic exposed flaws in this young Burton side that allowed hosts Kenilworth to demonstrate the benefits of playing at this level for four years. The end result saw the home side come from 19-8 down to score twenty-three unopposed points and inflict Burton’s fifth successive league defeat, 31-19.

Kenilworth kicked-off and with Josh Cartwright taking the ball safely Burton were soon attacking down the blind side with Darryl Banton and Joel Booth combining for the latter to burst through tackles as he took play to the home ten-metre line. With Kenilworth under pressure they conceded a penalty and Ian Gilmour put the ball deep into the opposition twenty-two. Although Burton lost the lineout good work by Kelvin Browne and Rob Wakelin saw the ball retrieved and seeing a gap Banton darted through to open Burton’s account after just two minutes play. Dave Archer made no mistake with the conversion and Burton led 7-0.

From the restart Kenilworth stormed back but good defence by Matt Tivey, Browne and Booth saw Burton win turnover ball in their own twenty-two and Gilmour cleared to halfway. The opposition again attacked and Burton gave away a penalty for offside infront of the posts some thirty metres out and the Home kicker made no mistake to reduce Burton’s lead to just four points.

Burton now upped their game and good runs by Craig Dutton, Danny Clarke and Sam Smith saw the opposition again being forced into giving away penalties. On both occasions Burton kicked deep but each time the lineout was lost and so Kenilworth cleared any threatening danger. Play remained in the opposition half but loose handling saw the ball stolen and a neat chip ahead saw the home centre gather the ball and race towards the Burton line, but a great covering tackle by Browne stopped the move. This inspired the Burton pack who piled forward in numbers to drive the opposition backwards and again Kenilworth gave away a penalty, but Archers effort from thirty-five metres out just shaved the upright. The opposition again put boot to ball to work the ball down into the Burton twenty-two and only a great drop by Archer saved the day. But once again the Burton pack upped their game, in particular the front row of Tivey, Clarke and Wakelin, as they drove the home side backwards some twenty-metres before stealing the ball on halfway. Ben Grocott broke free to feed Harry Titley and he took the ball before releasing Dutton who cleverly dummied his large frame through the smallest of gaps before being tackled on the home twenty-two. Dan Clarke was quickly up in support to pick-up and pass to Archer who carved his way through Kenilworth’s spread-eagled defence to touchdown. He then converted his own try and Burton led 14-3 with seven minutes of the half remaining.

From the restart Burton’s forwards led by Booth, Browne and Jon Edwards took play to the opposition and some good quick ball saw Gilmour break through. He raced towards the line, but was half tackled some five metres short and as he tried to get to his feet the tackler held him down to give himself a yellow card and Burton a penalty chance. Unfortunately the kick was missed and Kenilworth kicked back deep into the Burton half. A penalty against Burton for a ‘high-tackle’ after the whistle had sounded seemed a little harsh, but not as bad as the resulting kick and drive by Kenilworth. This saw them drive over the line for a try and reduce Burton’s lead to 14-8 with only a minute left to the break.

Browne attacked Archer’s near perfect kick-off and with the rest of the pack in support the Burton team surged upfield where Dan Smith was hauled down just short of the line. The scrum saw the Burton pack again put their opposite numbers under tremendous pressure as the home front row stood up. The next scrum saw Burton easily win the ball and Banton spun it out to the backs. Gilmour worked a dummy loop with Dutton and the latter through out a long pass to Sam Smith who quickly passed to Titley. Seeing Archer free out wide Titley threw out another long pass and Archer gathered the ball to touchdown in the corner for his second try of the day and put his team 19-8 in the lead.

With the second half barely underway Burton were looking very comfortable but a penalty from the restart saw Kenilworth get another three points. While Burton relied on the same pattern as in the first half the opposition realised they needed to play a different type of game and started to kick for position and rely on Burton making errors, fail to kick clear or naively try to run the ball out of defence. When Burton did get into opposition territory they were either penalised for holding on or lost the ball and this allowed Kenilworth to use their new tactics.

The Burton pack no longer had the control it had in the first half as the home side began to dictate play and exert pressure and without this stability their inexperience saw errors began to creep into Burton’s play. Only desperate efforts by Burton players kept the home side at bay, firstly another great tackle by Browne then a timely interception by Edwards stopped near certain scores, Unfortunately Burton also gave away needlessly penalties and this allowed Kenilworth to exploit their kicking game. At the same time Burton suddenly appeared to lose their ability to put clearance kicks into touch or open spaces and one such failed clearance saw the home fullback gather the ball and race forward. With Burton’s following up being far too weak and tackles being missed he covered sixty metres to touchdown in the corner and take the score to 19-16.

Another silly penalty for not releasing gave Kenilworth the chance to level the scores at 19-19, which their kicker duly did. Then another failed clearance by Burton saw the home scrumhalf take the ball, kick ahead and gather the bounce as Burton players looked-on and race over for a converted try. Worse was to follow as Burton tried to run the ball out of defence but poor passing saw the ball go to ground and Kenilworth’s revitalised pack were up quickly to drive over their hooker for their fourth try and take the score to 31-19.

Trailing by twelve points Burton at last started to play as they had in the first half as first Gilmour broke clear, then Titley burst through followed by a typical Dutton dash. But all this these were a case of too little too late as the moves ended with the ball being lost for Kenilworth to boot clear and make Burton start all over again.