On a windy but dry Saturday afternoon at Peel Croft Burton looked to be in line for their fourth straight win after a storming first half display produced three tries and a halftime score of 24-8. But an amazing reversal of try scoring and some horrendous Burton errors saw visitors Whitchurch come back to earn a draw and a four-try bonus point as Burton let slip a superb opportunity of extending their winning run.

Burton’s Dave Archer started the game and his kick was well chased by the Burton pack to start a ten minute spell of home pressure. A good take at a lineout by Will Brooks saw Kelvin Browne driven on in a great rolling maul that took play thirty metres to over the Whitchurch line, but with the referee unsighted he awarded a Burton five metre scrum for their efforts. A blind side pass by Ben Peach to Danny Smith saw him tackled into touch as he dived for the line. From the dropout Whitchurch quickly put the ball into space and it bounced into touch on the Burton ten-metre line. Burton lost the lineout and were penalised for the visiting kicker to put the ball between the posts and give his side a 0-3 lead very much against the run of play.

From the restart Burton again charged forward and the referee yellow carded a visiting forward for slowing the ball to give Burton a man advantage and from the resultant penalty Archer put the ball over the bar to level the score at 3-3 with just twelve minutes played. The kick-off was well taken by Jon Edwards and Burton set up a series of powerful forward bursts with Will Brook, Matt Tivey and Nathan Taylor all make inroads into the opposition’s territory. One such bust set up good ball from the supporting pack and the ball was spun out to Lewis Brooks who dummied inside and then out before passing to Taylor who crashed over in the corner. Archer’s boot added the extra points and Burton led 10-3 with only fifteen minutes gone.

The game was all Burton as they piled forward and from one set scrum Edwards picked-up from the base to dummy down the blindside but his inside pass just failed to find his support. However, Burton got a penalty but Archer’s normally reliable boot failed to oblige from in front of the posts. A quick tap drop out saw Taylor tackle the receiver and the rushed clearance landed in the arms of Archer. He raced forward with Ian Gilmour in support and Sam Smith burst through the opposition ranks and when stopped the Burton pack quickly recycled the ball for Archer to get to within two-metres of the line. But he slipped the ball to Luke Peach who made two tries in two games as he crashed over the line. This time Archer’s trusty boot regained its form and the ball sailed over the bar from the touchline.

Now leading 17-3 Burton dropped their tempo and Whitchurch quickly came back on the attack and as they pressed Gilmour received a yellow card for going off his feet at a ruck. While Burton were still reorganising Whitchurch took a quick tap and spun the ball out wide to use their man advantage to full advantage and the winger raced in for a try and take the score to 17-8 with ten minutes of the half remaining.

Burton rallied some great forward bursts by Tivey, Browne, Taylor and Brooks again put pressure on the visitor’s line. From one of these Dave Fitchett was up in support to spin the ball out wide to Dan Smith and Archer who made ground before Tivey powered his way forward with another of his typical drives. Luke Peach got the ball quickly and fed Browne who twisted and turned his way between defenders to score a great try. Archer again added the extra points and Burton now had a safe and comfortable 24-8 lead to take into the second half.

The second half started slowly for both sides as play hovered around the halfway line, but gradually Whitchurch began to start playing with more spirit as Burton appeared to go into stall mode. Burton’s defensive line was slow to close down their opposite numbers and on several occasions big gaps were exploited in midfield. Added to this was Burton’s inability to deal with simply things like catching bouncing balls and putting in first time tackles and the game began to drift into Whitchurch’s control. Weak Burton defence saw an opposition centre exploit a hole in Burton’s defence to get a try. In an attempt to up the tempo and add some fresh impetus Burton replaced Edwards and Fitchett with Kev Birt and Damon Varney. But despite both these players making some strong bursts upfield Whitchurch scored a second try, which was converted, through another gaping hole in Burton’s midfield defence to take the score to 24-20 with fifteen minutes to play.

Burton battled their way back upfield and Archer converted another penalty goal to increase Burton’s lead to 27-20, but too many elementary mistakes hampered Burton’s efforts as they tried to re-establish control. But Whitchurch sensed victory and continued to press but their efforts were thwarted by last ditch tackles from Gilmour, Smith, Peach and Browne. A penalty to Burton gave them a chance to clear the ball into opposition territory, but Sam Smith’s kick sailed over the deadball line and Whitchurch got a scrum back on the Burton ten-metere line. From this they won possession and surged towards the Burton line and from a scrum six metres out their scrum half broke blind to dive over for a try that he then converted to level the scores at 27-27.

From the restart Burton at last realised they could lose a game that had been won and surged towards the opposition line, but a penalty kick was missed and final passes failed to go to hand and Burton finished the game knowing that they had lost two points with a poor second half showing.