Burton entertained Stratford on Avon on Saturday. The early part of the match was a close fought affair with both sets of backs testing out the opposition and finding no way through the defences. Near to the end of the first quarter. The visitors were penalised for not rolling away after a tackle. Centre Dave Archer stepped up to kick the goal and open the scoring for Burton.

The game then sprang into life and some slick handling by the Burton backs saw fullback Harry Titley score in the corner. The conversion was missed. The home team were starting to get on top by this time and some good work by the forwards and backs alike took them into the Stratford half. However a handling error gave the visitors a scrum on their own ten metre line. The Burton pack put pressure on the scrum and forced the Visitors’ scrumhalf to make a mistake. The Burton scrumhalf Eddie Nicholls pounced on the ball and ran towards the goal line. As he neared the line he was desperately looking for support which did not materialise. However he managed to fend off the fullback to score near the posts. This time Archer added the two points.

Stratford pressure then saw Lewis Brooks sin binned for playing the ball on the ground but they failed to take advantage of the extra man during the ten minutes he was off but just before half time Burton conceded another penalty at the scrum. The visitors took a quick tap and charged through the Burton defence to score a try which was converted. The half time score was therefore 15-7.

From the kick off Burton again pressurised the Stratford defence who received two yellow cards within a minute of each other for killing the ball in the ruck. The home team made good use of their extra men. From a lineout the ball was worked into the centre of the field for Joe Gazzard to run through the visitors’ defence and score under the posts. Archer added the conversion.

Again from the kick off more strong running from the backs and forwards together saw the home team winning a line out close to the goal line. The forwards set up a driving maul which took them over the line for another try with hooker James Davies getting the touch down. Archer again added the extra points.

By this time Burton were rampant and a kick ahead by Archer with a good chase by winger Chaz Bunting caused problems for the Stratford defence. The forwards and backs combined to find Joe Gazzard crashing over the line for his second try of the afternoon. Archer again kicked the conversion.

With the score now at 36-7 the home supporters could be forgiven for assuming that the match was all over bar the shouting. However this was not to be the case as Stratford raised their game and Burton became very sloppy. A missed tackle enabled the visitors to score close to the posts. The conversion was missed making the score 36-12.

Next a poor kick from defence was charged down for the visitors to score another try, which was also unconverted. The score now 36-17. From the kick off the visitors worked their way back into the Burton half and more poor tackling by the home team’s defence caused another try. Again the conversion was missed making the score now 36-22. Again the home defence was put under pressure. A good kick ahead was not fielded by Burton and the Stratford winger scored in the corner. Yet again the conversion was missed making the score now 36-27.

Burton then tried to keep the ball with substitute Will Roach making several charges up the field. They could not prevent one last score however as the visitors won a penalty in front of the posts. There was no time for a kick to touch so the visitors kicked the penalty goal to give them an extra losing bonus point. They had already earned a try bonus point.

The final score was 36-30 but Burton will thank their lucky stars that the Stratford kicker had an off day. What looked like a certain victory at one stage could have been so different. The win sees Burton stay in third place in the league one point behind Bournville and only two points behind league leaders Newport who lost to Dudley Kingswinford.