A leg injury ruled out centre Lawrence Betty and he was replaced by Jack Bartram as Burton travelled to play Walsall in this Midlands I West fixture with the hope of starting a run of better results. But after coming back from 17-9 down at halftime, and at last showing a determination that has been sadly until now, they had only themselves to blame as they lost by a single point, 27-26. After controlling play for the majority of the second half and totally dominating the last twenty minutes of the game Burton just did not possess the finesse to penetrate the opposition defensive wall and get the all important score that would have given them victory.

Burton kicked-off and Dave Archer kicked deep into Walsall twenty-two and Craig Dutton caught the ball to race forward thirty metres to set up first scrum of the game. Unfortunately for Burton it became a complete fiasco and possession was lost and the opposiution cleared to just outside their twenty-two. A quick ball to the front of line was caught by Josh Cartwright and a good solid drive took Burton towards Walsall line. Walsall were penalised for coming in at the side of ruck and a penalty by Archer put Burton 0 – 3 after just three minutes play.

Dave Fitchett caught the kick off and set good ball that was passed out to Jack Bartram, who kicked aimlessly into Walsall territory to start a series of unforced errors that saw the opposition gain ground. First Ian Gilmour threw a bad pass to Lewis Brooks and them Walsall wheeled a Burton scrum. Fortunately at the next scrum the referee spotted that Matt Tivey’s opposite numbers was boring in on him and Burton cleared up field. A five man lineout saw Ken Archer tap the ball to Darryl Banton and Burton advanced to within the home twenty-two where the Walsall flanker was penalised for repeatedly slowing the ball and up stepped Archer to increase Burton’s lead to 0-6 with ten minutes gone.

But as so often happens after getting a score Burton managed to give one away as with Fitchett dropping the restart Banton had to scramble the ball clear to the Walsall ten metre line. The scrumhalf was then penalised and a quick tap by Walsall saw Burton miss first time tackles and with the defensive line not moving up the opposition seized their chance to grab an unconverted try and take the score to 5-6.

A Walsall lock missed the catch at restart and as his team tried to stem Burton’s advance one of his team mates was penalised for entering a ruck at the side after Kelvin Browne had turned over the ball and Archer kicked another goal to take the score to 5 – 9.

From the restart Nathan Taylor was taken out off the ball and Archer put the penalty deep into the opposition half, but Burton’s lineout was not straight and Walsall regained possession at the resulting scrum. Their No 8 picked up from the base, drew the cover and then fed his winger who raced twenty-five metres to touch down in the corner to give his side the lead for the first time in the match, 10-9 after twenty-five minutes play.

For the rest of the half Burton tried to play rugby but all too often silly errors and wrong options saw chances go begging. Dutton picked up from the base of the scrum but chose to go wrong way, Gilmour gave Sam Smith man and ball and then after making a good break Fitchett’s pass to the same man just drifted away and was knocked on. Also Burton continued to miss too many first time tackles allowing Walsall to gain ground. A Dutton pick up at base of scrum saw Banton make twenty metres before passing to Danny Smith, who made another twenty for the ball to be recycled down the left, but Bartram had his ankle tapped when he was through on goal. The ball was recycled but Gilmour again managed to find man and ball as Jamie Hamilton knocked-on. Then Hamilton was penalised for dropping his shoulder at scrum and Walsall kicked to Burton’s twenty-two. Cartwright stole the ball and Gilmour kicked back into Walsall 22, where their fullback called for mark, but his clearance failed to find touch and Dutton took play forward only to lose the ball in contact.

Browne broke clear but found himself isolated and gave away a penalty for holding on, Walsall kicked to the corner but their catch and drive was held and Burton cleared the danger. Another pick-up by Dutton saw him waste the opportunity with a pointless chip ahead when he had support outside of him. This saw Walsall press forward and after an interception they raced sixty metres up field only to be stopped by Browne, but he held onto the man and was yellow carded for his efforts. Walsall opted for scrum and their No 8 picked-up to force his way over for a converted try and give his side 17-9 at half time.

After a high tackle had laid Danny Smith low Walsall followed this with a series of penalty offences that saw Burton keep play in home territory, but loss of ball in contact hampered Burton’s progress. A good attack by Burton saw Lewis Brooks race in for a try that Archer converted to take the score to 19-16 and then Walsall went over the top and Archer added his fourth penalty goal to level the scores at 19-19.

Burton now rang the changes with Birt, Gazzard and Varney replacing Hamiltom, Archer and Dutton and soon a big hit by Varney saw Sam Smith strip the ball clear to crash over for try that Archer converted and Burton led 19 – 26 with fifteen minutes to play.

But the Walsall lock broke clear and a one on one defensive position sees him waltz passed Bartram to score and take his side to within two points of Burton.

Burton conceded a penalty for being offside at ruck and Walsall kicked deep into Burton’s half and followed this up with another penalty goal to give them a 27-26 lead.

Burton now pressed forward and from a good take by Cartwright Brookes broke clear but the referee adjudged that Burton players ran into each other and so stopped this Burton move. Then a sixty metre break by Browne saw his final pass just drift forward as Sam Smith had the line at his mercy. Archer tried a drop goal but his attempt was charged down and Walsall cleared the ball into touch to take the victory.