Burton went to Stratford needing win following the disappointing loss to Worcester Wanderers the week before. They managed to achieve this target with a final result, 23-24, which was a fair one and gave Burton a four point win and a bonus point for having scored four tries, But considering that Burton’s four yellow cards meant they played large parts of the game with only 14 men, then if Burton can learn to keep fifteen men on the field they will be a team to be feared in this league.

The game started with Burton opting to play into a vicious wind and straight away dropped the kick off to gift Stratford a scrum thirty metres from the Burton line. From the resulting play Darryl Banton intercepted a very slow pass from the Stratford scrum half only to be harshly adjudged as being offside to give away a penalty. Thankfully for Burton the kick sailed well wide of the posts.

Burton went on the offensive and with kicking not being an option into the wind the pack led by a surging run from Kevin Birt drove deep into the Stratford half. Lawrence Betty then broke through the defensive line only for the move to break down as the pass to winger Sam Smith, who was in acres of space, went behind him.

Stratford then kicked deep into the Burton corner and drove the resulting lineout towards the Burton line, but a good effort from the Burton pack kept them held up over the line. Burton won the resulting scrum and then worked their way up the pitch with Stratford giving away a penalty thirty metres out. With a huge wind facing him Dave Archer stepped up and just missed with what would have been an exceptional kick had it landed.

The Burton forward pack were recycling plenty of ball and regularly getting over the gain-line, with Birt, Craig Dutton and Matt Tivey making good breaks, only for Burton’s lack of patience in possession to let them down. Time after time Burton threw unnecessary passes which gave away possession and the opposition were then able to relieve the growing pressure with massive clearances, some over sixty metres, thanks to the strong wind at their backs.

After twenty minutes Birt gave away a penalty for not rolling away from the ball and Stratford converted it to take a 3-0 lead. But Burton stormed back and replied strongly with a good break from Banton who then fed the rushing Dutton. He made ground before feeding Kelvin Browne who burst through two tackles before returning the ball back to Dutton who was held up five metres before the line. Browne then followed Dutton to take a pop pass and crash over the line to give Burton a 7-3 lead.

Lewis Brooks, Danny Smith and Archer all made potentially try scoring breaks but unfortunately either the support or final pass was found wanting. Niall Davidson making his first team league debut at hooker was then deemed to have come in from the wrong side of a ruck and was yellow carded to leave Burton playing the final ten minutes of the half with only ten men.

Stratford’s kicker then kicked a penalty to leave Burton leading by only a point. To make matters worse Betty was then given offside in the centre of the field and was also shown a yellow card.

During the break Browne was replaced by Zach Mears-Davies and with the strong wind now in their favour started to kick to the corners, but were unable to control the ball long enough to exert enough pressure on the Stratford line. Time after time Burton created the opening only to see wayward passing or a lack of support lead to turnovers.

Four minutes into the half Stratford moved the ball wide and looked likely to score, only for Danny Smith, back after a long term shoulder injury, drive the Stratford prop into touch with a massive hit. A kick from Banton as he tried to relieve the pressure on the Burton line led to Stratford counter attacking and from several good phases of play their scrum half darted over the line to give his team an 11-7 lead.

From the re-start Dutton stripped the opposition of possession in the contact area ran at the fly half and kicked over his head. He then kicked the ball on several times, beating the winger to the ball to score a superb individual try from sixty metres out. Archer then kicked the conversion from the touchline and Burton re-took a deserved 14-11 lead.

Stratford battled back and drove into the Burton line several times, but with the defence holding the Stratford fly half kicked to the corner and Archer had to take the ball into touch and give away a lineout five metres from the Burton line. The Burton pack seemed to switch off, and with Stratford catching and driving towards the Burton line against very little resistance Stratford scored a converted try to lead 18-14.

Betty again drove through the would-be home tacklers for a great break 40 metres out only to try an offload and give away possession some three metres from the opposition line. Dave Fitchett was then yellow carded by the referee for being offside to leave Burton gain down to 14 men. A string of injuries now saw a spate of action from the Burton coaches as Tivey was replaced by Tom Murphy after taking a knock to his shoulder and Nathan Taylor replaced Ken Archer whose had injured his elbow.

Poor tackling and defensive work from several of the Burton backs led to a break from Stratford, who passed the ball about amongst several players to lead to a try. But, thankfully, another poor kick from Stratford meant Burton were only punished with five points as they took a lead of 23-14 with only 10 minutes to go.

Burton drove deep into the Stratford half here Sam Smith powered through several tackles. The ball eventually found its way to Danny Smith on the opposite wing, but with 4 defenders in his way it looked like he would be forced into touch. However he had other ideas and danced around all the defenders and raced in for a lovely try to stun the open-mouthed, watching defenders. So with only five minutes left Burton were now trailing by only 4 points and could sense and smell the chance of victory.

Another typical break by Betty, who offloaded to feed Taylor, Brooks and Davidson led to Burton getting into the opposition twenty-two. Davidson looked to have been stopped, but he found a way to give the ball back to Betty who then crashed over the line to give Burton a one point lead again, with only minutes to go, at 24 points to 23.

In the last minute Fitchett was given a second yellow card of the game for leading with his forearm in a tackle, but fortunately it was too late for Stratford to use this advantage and the final whistle sounded with Burton recording their first league victory of the season.