Even the return from injury of Club skipper Tom Bartram at full back for the unavailable Darryl Banton for his first game since September did little to help Burton’s cause in this inauspicious start to 2011. Twenty points against in the last five minutes saw Burton slide to a disastrous result to start the New Year with a 47-10 defeat against Luton at their Newlands Road ground on Saturday and so continue Burton RFC’s dismal run of league results. With this eighth straight defeat Burton now face a very steep uphill challenge to avoid relegation from their National league status after just one season. Burton had only themselves to blame as their pack battled hard for most of the game to produce plenty of ball for chances to be created. But once again poor Burton tackling and handling led to far a from superior opposition being allowed far too much space and time to run in points too easily.

The game started badly for Burton when the kick-off failed to travel ten-metres to give Luton a scrum back and from this the home side charged forward taking full advantage of several Burton errors to press towards the Burton line. A rolling maul by Luton saw them drive over the Burton line for a converted try to give them a 7-0 lead after just three minutes play.

Burton now knew they had a game on their hands and took up the challenge with the pack charging forward led by Joel Booth, Jon Edwards and Ben Grocott. Burton pressed towards the home line and soon won a penalty as Luton tried to slow the ball. With the Burton pack completely dominant they opted for a scrum and Booth picked up to charge forward when stopped Burton quickly re-cycled the ball and attacked again only for Josh Cartwright to be stopped inches short. But a smart pick-up by Dave Archer saw him touch down close to the posts for Tom Barlow to convert and level the scores at 7-7 after just twelve minutes.

From the restart the Burton pack again surged forward with Josh Cartwright leading the way supported by Grocott, Will Brooks, Dan Clarke and Matt Tivey 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 half where a penalty goal saw Luton take a 10-7 lead. Good defensive work by the Burton backrow soon saw Burton pressing forward again and the Burton pack were in complete control driving Luton back at every set piece. In addition with Cartwright and Brooks stealing lineout ball Burton were well on top but poor decision making and handling cost them as chances went begging.

With fifteen minutes of the half remaining Burton had failed to capitalise on their domination and Luton suddenly upped their tempo and began to press the Burton line. Two unconverted tries and a further penalty resulted as Luton having been under the cosh for the last twenty minutes took a hold of the game thanks to Burton’s poor defence. This allowed Luton to make easy yards as Burton attempted to tackle high and even the smallest of Luton’s players was easily able to brush aside these frail and pathetic Burton tackles. So as the half-time whistle sounded Luton had managed to gain a comfortable, but fortunate, 23-7 lead.
Luton restarted the game and Burton again dominated with a break by Craig Dutton very nearly producing the score they so desperately needed. But with one man to beat and Danny Smith outside him his pass was adjudged forward and another chance to get back into the game was lost. Nathan Taylor replaced Tivey as the Burton pack again continued to dominate, and then Luton were reduced to fourteen men after their centre was sin binned for not releasing in the tackle. With a man advantage Burton poured forward but wasteful kicks and bad decisions again wasted ball as chances were lost. Barlow did manage to add a penalty goal to reduce the lead to 23-10, but the tries Burton needed were just not coming as Luton returned to full strength.

Trying to create more penetration Burton then replaced Dutton and Harry Titley with Sam Smith and Luke Peach resulting in Bartram moving to the centre, but even after this Burton still could not produce the cutting edge it so urgently needed. The pack continued to supply the ball but Burton had nobody who was capable of getting over the advantage line and so poor tactical kicking saw Luton being fed scraps of ball to feed upon which they took and attacked the weak Burton defensive line.

With eleven minutes to play Edwards was sin binned for stamping and although Burton withstood playing a man short for five minutes after that the floodgates opened and they ran in four tries, two of which were converted, as the Burton team appeared to capitulate. This late onslaught saw Luton gain a 47-10 victory from a game that they had been second best in for at least eighty percent of the time, but when the chances came, unlike Burton, they had the players to convert them into points a lesson Burton must rapidly learn.