If the opposition and venue had not have changed then supporters could have been forgiven if they had thought they’d seen it all before as the Burton pack again toiled to provide the bread and butter only for the threequarters to provide little or no jam as Burton slumped to their ninth successive defeat at the hands of Sheffield Tigers at Peel Croft on Saturday. While Tigers provided much stiffer opposition than Luton had the previous week Burton’s weak and at times non-existent defence allowed the visitors to run in four tries in the first half to make sure that victory was theirs. Although Burton rallied to win the second half the damage had already been done and Burton’s fate sealed as Tigers dominated first half proceedings to lead 28-7 at the break.

Tigers kicked-off with the swirling wind at their backs, but a good return by Jon Evans and a surging run by Lawrence Betty saw Burton take play into the visitors twenty-two. But the ball was lost and the visitors took play back into the Burton half with a deep kick by their outhalf, Jonny West, who was already demonstrating that he intended to control the game. Tigers kept possession for West to again kick into touch in the Burton twenty-two. Josh Cartwright took the lineout but Burton’s clearance sailed high into welcoming Tiger arms for them to start another attack that saw a rash act by Joel Booth be penalised and Tigers kicked deep into the corner. Taking the lineout the visiting pack rolled forward to carry the ball over the line for a try that West converted to give his side a 7-0 lead after just eight minutes.

A long restart saw Tigers have plenty of time to put the ball back deep into home territory, but from the ensuing scrum Burton took the ball against the head and Dave Archer cleared to halfway. Tigers were penalised for holding at a ruck, but Archer’s attempted penalty from forty metres sailed wide. The resulting drop-out saw the start of a period of pressure from Burton with the pack led by Booth, Ben Grocott and Jon Edwards taking the ball forward before Danny Smith was hauled down just short of the line. Tigers cleared their lines and kicked the ball upfield where Harry Titley gathered and returned the ball into the visitor’s half. But the ball failed to find touch and once again Tigers outhalf took full advantage of Burton’s weak tackling as he raced through the cover to feed back inside to his centre who ran in for a second converted try.

Now leading 14-0 and having found Burton’s Achilles Heel Tigers upped their tempo and another break by their outhalf saw him offload to a charging secondrow, who made twenty metres before slipping the ball to the charging fullback who raced in to touch down under the posts. The successful conversion took the score to 21-0 after as many minutes.

From the restart Archer was quickly up to stop the clearance and then Josh Cartwright charged down the second attempt as Burton surged forward into the visiting twenty-two. Burton won the ball and Evans spun it out to Tom Barlow whose long pass to Betty saw him take the ball at pace and race over for a try. Barlow converted and at last it looked as though Burton knew where the line was and were capable of reaching it. Lifted by this Burton’s pack surged forward to win a penalty and a quick tap by Booth saw him charge forward supported by Dan Clarke, Rob Wakelin, Matt Tivey and Edwards and from the ruck Evans tried to break clear but as he was tackled the move broke down. Burton now had a five minute spell when they controlled possession and pressurised the Tigers line with strong runs by Tivey, Clarke, Grocott, Edwards and Will Brooks but all of these found that the strength and aggression of tackling from Tigers too much to break through.

Tigers eventually cleared their lines with a deep kick downfield and Titley superbly caught the ball just in the field of play, but unfortunately he then passed inside to Danny Smith only for him to get man and ball together as Tigers support raced through. Smith managed to hang onto the ball and Burton won a scrum. But from the scrum Tom Bartram failed to find touch and visiting outhalf West gratefully gathered the ball to race forward once again. He again sliced through Burton’s non-existent defence and found his openside flanker in support to cross the home line and score under the posts. Another successful conversion took the score to 28-7 and from the restart Burton’s pack again took play into visiting territory.

Cartwright stole a lineout and the ball was spun along the line for Bartram to fed the ball back inside to Betty, but the centre’s run was too flat and Tigers defence easily nullified any threat. Then Rob Wakelin burst round a ruck and like an old English centre-forward jumped skyward to head the attempted clearance some thirty metres down field to force a lineout in the visitor’s twenty-two. But after this the first half petered out into a period of aerial Ping-Pong as both sides kicked up and down the field without posing the other any real threat.

The second half started well for Burton as Tigers were penalised and Barlow kicked the ball to within six-metres of the opposition line. But the lineout was lost and Tigers stormed out to their ten-metre line. Burton’s pack turned over the ball and powerful bursts saw Edwards, Wakelin, Brooks and Booth take the ball forward to win another penalty as Tigers once again slowed the release down. Barlow again put the ball deep into the opposition twenty-two and this time Grocott won the ball to start a series of bursts that saw Clarke, Booth, Tivey and Edwards all just fail to get the ball down. A five-metre scrum saw Burton continue the surge but a knock-on gave Tigers a scrum, but Burton won the ball and as they tried to move the ball out wide Tigers were penalised for a deliberate knock-on. Burton opted for a scrum. Burton tried to move the ball but all too often the receiving player was standing still and so ground was lost.

Burton replaced Wakelin, Cartwright and Evans with Nathan Taylor, Kelvin Browne and Darryl Banton in an attempt to add some impetus to their cause. It wasn’t long before Banton passed the ball down the blindside to Archer, who made ground before returning the ball to Banton to race over for a try in the corner. Barlow’s superb conversion from the touchline sailed over the bar to take the score to 28-14.

Banton return the drop-out with a high hanging kick that Danny Smith raced after and caught on the full but then was immediately bundled into touch on the visitor’s ten-metre line. For the remainder of the game Burton’s pack continued to control possession and dominate much of the forward play, but all too often ball was being passed laterally and poorly or given to men standing still. This allowed Tigers defence to easily deal with any threats and meant hard won ground had to be won again. A penalty to Tigers saw them add three more points to their total and take the final score to 31-14. Only desperate secondary defence stopped Tigers from adding a further try in the last minute as their backs once again sliced through Burton’s supposed front line defence.