Desperately seeking to stem the current run of defeats Burton travelled to play Newport knowing that they had already beaten them at home earlier in the season. Surprisingly after all the Arctic condition the playing surface was in a near perfect state as Burton faced Newport’s kick-off and Jon Edwards gathered the ball to drive forward. As the Burton pack drove forward Newport were penalised for trying to collapse the maul and Burton put boot to ball to take play well into the opposition half. But the position was lost when a penalty to Burton was reversed for backchat and Newport put the ball onto the Burton twenty-two.

For the next fifteen minutes this was the pattern of the game with both sides trying to get the upper hand. A penalty to Burton saw Darryl Banton just narrowly miss the uprights, but then the Newport winger raced out of defence to get to the Burton twenty-two. A home scrum saw Newport win the ball and drive the Burton pack backwards for their second row, Adam Greaves, to ground the ball. The conversion hit the posts but Newport now had a 5-0 lead after just sixteen minutes play.

The rest of the half followed a similar pattern to the first fifteen minutes with the ball moving up and down the pitch and despite both sides competing well neither could claim to be in the ascendancy. During this stalemate penalty both teams missed shots at goal as the referee’s whistle continually stopped any flow to the game. Breaks by Lawrence Betty, Dave Archer and Dan Smith ran out of impetus as Burton strove to get a score, but although Burton displayed great endeavour the little bit of flair to break the line was just missing. Half-time came with the hosts still clinging on to their five-point lead and Burton trying to work-out how to break the gain line.

From the restart the Burton pack surged forward with Josh Cartwright leading the way supported by Joel Booth, Ben Grocott, Dan Clarke and Rob Wakelin and won a lineout inside the home ten-metre line. But unfortunately the ball was lost and the opposition soon put the ball deep into the Burton twenty-two. Quick support play by Newport saw them recycle the ball and their centre, Mike Woodhouse, raced through Burton non-existent defence to score. The successful conversion took the home side’s lead to twelve points.

Five minutes later a Banton penalty put three points on the board for Burton and he quickly followed this up with another successful penalty from in front of the posts to take the score to 12-6 after fifty-five minutes play. This was no more than Burton deserved, but despite holding their own in set pieces it was their inability to break the line that was continually stopping Burton’s efforts. A great break by Booth saw him make thirty-metres before he off loaded to the supporting Wakelin and Edwards but once again the threatening move petered out. Newport cleared the danger and took play back into the Burton half where they launched a series of forward drive to take them to win a lineout ten-metres from the Burton line. A neatly executed move saw Newport’s No. 8, Chris Taylor, peel round the front of the line and smash his way over for another converted try to take the score to 19-6.

Looking for that vital cutting edge Burton rang the changes with Jon Parkinson and Craig Dutton coming on for Harry Titley and Grocott. But no sooner had this happened as each side lost a player as Burton’s Rob Wakelin and Newport’s Neil Weston were yellow-carded. Burton’s players upped their efforts tackling like demons and supporting any move that could lead to that elusive try, but all of this was to no avail.

Then three minutes into injury time Newport’s winger, Mark Millward, intercepted a wayward pass to break clear and race three-quarters the length of the pitch for Newport’s fourth try. Once again the conversion sailed over the posts to give the hosts a 26-6 victory as the final whistle sounded.

Burton’s last game before the festive break is on Peel Croft next Saturday and for the side to go into the New Year on a high. While no one can doubt the effort put in by players it is essential that they find the missing cutting edge that will make tries possible.