In their second successive match against a top of the table side, second placed South Leicester, despite the final result Burton earned themselves plenty of credit with a gutsy performance that was full of honest endeavour. Indeed supporters at Peel Croft on Saturday saw that had it not been for a forward pass, a suspicious-looking trip and several last ditch tackles Burton may well have completely re-written the form book and finished victors over a side that showed the experience gained by playing at this level for a number of years.

On a wet and miserable afternoon Burton kicked-off and after two minutes of good pressure again found themselves victims of forwards crashing heads together. Ben Grocott left the field with blood streaming from a nose that looked as though it had done twelve rounds with Mohammed Ali after hitting the back of Matt Tivey’s head as both tackled the same opposition player. So having barely warmed his seat on the bench Jon Parkinson came on to replace him at No 8. Burton continued to show the visitors that they would be no easy ride as the forwards drove straight and hard into opposition ranks and this soon paid dividends when Burton were awarded a penalty in front of the posts on the opposition ten-metre line. But Dave Archer’s goal attempt sailed just to the left of the upright to give South a dropout.

With conditions making the ball like a bar of soap both sides were prone to handling errors making moving the ball very difficult. A good break by Lewis Brooks and Ian Gilmour took play deep into the opposition half but the final pass was dropped and South cleared back to halfway. They stole the lineout for their big, heavy forwards to use their power in a rolling maul that drove into Burton's twenty-two and gain a scrum. The Burton pack held the initial surge but the opposition worked the ball out wide and their centre took the ball at a great angle to crash over for a try that was converted.

From the restart South Leicester upped the pressure and began to use their much heavier pack to keep the ball close and proceed up the field with a series of drives. But with Joel Booth, Dave Fitchett and Jon Parkinson to the fore tackling like demons to force a turnover Brooks kicked clear to halfway. From the lineout South’s scrumhalf kicked ahead but the Burton defence didn't deal with the ball and Gilmour, under pressure, saw his kick charged down for the opposition flanker to tap the ball over the line and touchdown for South’s second converted try.

Burton restarted trailing 14-0 after just fifteen minutes play and the outlook looked very ominous but a great passage of play by the Burton pack saw them move the ball thirty metres towards the visitor’s line. Sensing a chance Jon Evans spun the ball out to Luke Peach who passed the ball inside to the on rushing Lawrence Betty. He made fifteen metres with a barnstorming burst to set up a ruck. Fitchett and Kelvin Browne were quickly on the ball to recycle it to Evans who fed Brooks. His looped pass found Danny Smith out-wide and the winger raced towards the line only to be hauled down three metres short. South somehow scrambled the ball clear and their forwards regrouped to start another series of devastating forward bursts, but with Jon Edwards, Jamie Hamilton, Danny Clarke and Tivey putting in some great tackles progress was slow. However, a strong run by the opposition threequarters was only stopped by the combined efforts of Brooks, Fitchett and Brown as played moved to within five-metres of the Burton line. Gaining a scrum South’s heavy pack surged forward and their No 8 picked-up from the base to dive over for his teams third try to take the score to 19-0.

Burton’s forwards led by Clarke, Booth and Parkinson stormed after the restart to set up good ball and Evans moved it out wide via Peach and Betty. Gilmour took the ball and darted through the cover to feed Brooks who raced down the touchline to get within two-metres of the opposition line before a lunging tackle stopped him. South cleared the danger and kicked the ball deep into the Burton half but Peach safely gathered the ball and kicked backed to the opposition twenty-two as the half-time whistle sounded.

Dave Archer gathered the restart and set off on a twisting thirty-metre run up the pitch before off-loading to Peach who fed Brooks. He in turn fed the looping Evans who tried to break inside and as he was half-tackled he slipped the ball out to Smith who raced the remaining ten-metres to touch down for Burton’s first points. Archer’s conversion from wide out hit the posts to leave the score at 19-5 after just two minutes of the second half.

Burton continued to play with belief and were putting South under pressure as breaks by Betty, Brooks and Smith were only stopped with some frantic defence. In turn any attempts by the opposition to break free was stopped by excellent tackling by Peach, Brooks, Browne, Parkinson and Fitchett as the whole Burton team demonstrated their commitment and endeavour. With the pack now getting a plentiful supply of ball, particularly from loose play, Burton began to spin the ball out wide. One such move saw Peach make a half break to feed Brooks and with a wide open pitch before him he raced clear, but unfortunately the pass was just forward, and so a certain try was lost.

Then as South tried to run the ball out of defence Brooks put in a superb tackle and the ball spilled loose. Archer hacked the ball on into the empty twenty-two and as he rounded the lone prostrate defender he ‘lost’ his footing and, with no whistle being heard, another clear chance was lost.

Apparently oblivious to the referee South were now using all their experience and ‘street-cred’ to slow the ball and stop Burton’s progress. Joe Gazzard and Jon Crisp, making his first team debut, came on for Tivey and Gilmour as Burton tried to find that little bit extra. Crisp was soon in action as he combined with Brooks to stop a threatening South move, while Gazzard, playing as a makeshift tight head-prop, although struggling in set pieces was seen supporting every move.

A half-break by Brooks saw Smith and Archer combine to take play deep into opposition territory, but the resulting lineout gave South possession. As they tried to move the ball a great tackle by Peach stopped the move but Burton were penalised for going off their feet and South kicked to inside the Burton ten-metre line. Taking the lineout their pack found enough energy to again start a rolling maul that took play towards the Burton line where they won a scrum. Burton's pack, now tiring after an energy sapping afternoon of tackling stronger, heavier players, again held the initial surge but another powerful drive saw their No 8 again touch down as his pack went over the line. The conversion sailed over the bar to give a final score of 26-5, but Burton were far from disgraced and showed tremendous resource and effort throughout the game to show that they still have a spirit and resolve that may lead them away from relegation.