After last week’s demolition of Dunlop Burton 1st XV took to the field at the Glasshouse Lane ground in the hope of getting a similar score line against the bottom of the league team Kenilworth, and while the outcome was never really in doubt the resulting score was far closer than Burton supporters had hoped for. But at the end of the game Burton travelled home with a win and another five points to their credit after a match in which they outscored their opponents by four tries to one to earn the extra bonus point.

Good pressure from the kick-off saw Jake Manning take play forward with the help of a powerful surge by his forwards, but a knock-on by Burton saw the home side get the first scrum. The Burton pack drove their opposite numbers off the ball for Craig Dutton to pick-up and charge forward. After three or four more phases Manning released the ball out wide for Dave Archer to carve through the middle and feed Lewis Brooks, who crashed over in the corner to open Burton’s account with a 5-0 lead.

Burton failed to deal with the restart and Josh Cartwright knocked-on to concede another opposition scrum that saw the Burton front-row penalised for not binding. The forty-metre attempt at goal hit the posts and Luke Peach gratefully cleared the ball into touch on halfway. Strong defence by the home side kept several promising moves by Burton at bay. Kenilworth responded with some probing kicks that put Burton under pressure, but sound defence by the Burton back-row stopped any scores. Unfortunately Lewis Brooks was harshly penalised for holding on to the ball when isolated and Kenilworth took full advantage to kick a goal and take the score to 5-3 after twenty minutes play.

Kenilworth started to put together some good moves that were helped by Burton’s poor tackling to let them move ever closer towards the Burton line. Laziness in Burton’s defence after thirty minutes gave the home side chance to take the lead with another well-struck penalty for Burton being offside. But having taken the lead Kenilworth were forced to play the next ten minutes with fourteen men after they had a player yellow carded to persistent slowing the ball down as Burton pressurised their line and to Burton’s credit they took full advantage of the extra man as they scored twelve vital points.

Although Archer missed the fairly easy penalty goal Burton started to play some great rugby. Some great inter-passing by the Burton team saw the ball get to within five metres of the home line where Manning was forced to leave the field with a knee injury. This resulted in a massive reshuffle in Burton’s ranks with Ian Gilmour going to scrumhalf, Dutton to centre, Archer to wing, and Mark Ovens to fullback as Ken Archer came off the bench to play No 8. But all these changes did little to stop Burton’s dominance as the powered forward. A clearance by Kenilworth was safely gathered by Peach who passed and looped round Ovens to feed Danny Smith. The winger easily ran round two Kenilworth players before passing to Brooks to race in for his second try of the day. Archer added the conversion and Burton now led 12-6 with more to come. With the clock now showing six minutes of injury time Burton turned-over the ball just inside the opponents half and Browne emerged from the melee of players to twist and turn his way towards the home line. When stopped he found Nathan Taylor in support who turned and fed Dave Fitchett for the flanker to crash over the line for Burton’s third try and take Burton into a 17-6 lead at the break.

Burton soon added to this as Cartwright took the restart but his pass was knocked-on and from the scrum Kenilworth kicked into the Burton twenty-two. Archer gathered the ball and started an excellent counter attack that saw Lewis Brooks complete his hat trick. From inside the twenty-two Archer linked with Smith and the pair raced forty metres up field where they were joined by Fitchett and Brooks and after some slick inter-passing Fitchett fed Brooks for the centre to crash over in the corner and take the score to 22-6.

Kenilworth struck back immediately as Archer took the restart but his hurried pass was knocked on for a home scrum. From this they moved the ball forward and a rolling maul saw their prop drive over the line for a converted try to cut Burton’s lead to 22-13. For the next ten minutes a period of poor ball retention mainly caused by the Burton players trying to force moves and this saw chances slip by as Burton failed to capitalise on their control and domination. However, Burton eventually settled down and some excellent back play saw Brooks again show his ability as he sliced open the home defence only for Archer fail to take the pass with the line at his mercy. James Hamilton and Alistair Eastwood replaced Birt and Smith to add fresh legs to Burton’s cause, but Browne was then yellow carded for failing to release and Kenilworth’s kicker gratefully accepted the three points on offer.

Archer’s restart was attacked and Eastwood put in a great tackle on the catcher forcing him to hang onto the ball and concede a penalty. Archer made amends for some of his earlier misses with a well-struck kick that sailed over the bar from forty metres and Burton now led 25-16.

With time ebbing away Kenilworth powered forward in numbers but Burton’s defence was solid. A penalty against Hamilton gave the home kicker to give his side a bonus point as his kick sailed over to produce a 25-19 final score line that concealed Burton’s control and domination.