Even the constraints of a pitch some eight metres narrower than Peel Croft failed to stop Burton from getting back to winning ways as they eventually overcame a dogged Ludlow side by 30-10 in this Midlands 1 (West) league fixture at the Linney. Despite the width of the pitch Burton showed their determination to win by putting in some hard, tackling defensive work when the home side controlled play for about thirty minutes before and after half-time. Although leading for much of the match it was only two tries in the last five minutes that eventually sealed this hard, fought for victory.

From the kick-off Burton showed they meant business when a lineout on halfway saw Will Brooks take the ball to feed Dave Fitchett, who crashed through the defensive line to feed Craig Dutton and Matt Tivey to surge forward, but unfortunately Tivey’s pass to ‘Spud’ Taylor was just knocked on as the flanker raced up in support. Then Dutton seized on a loose ball to charge forward again but with no support he was tackled on the home twenty-two, but Ludlow were penalised for hands-on in the ruck and conceded a penalty. Dave Archer stepped up to land the first of his six successful kicks at goal for the afternoon and put Burton in a 3-0 lead.

The restart sailed directly into touch to give the first scrum of the game and Burton’s good solid effort was rewarded with ‘Spud’ Taylor racing away up field. He was tackled just on the home twenty-two and Ludlow retrieved the ball to run the ball out of their twenty-two but a great tackle by Ian Gilmour saw Archer snatch up the ball to counter attack. But he was stopped and penalised for not releasing and a quick tap and go by the opposition carried them over the Burton line for a converted try to take the lead at 7-3.

Archer’s deep kick-off saw Lewis Brooks and Lawrence Betty in pursuit for Brooks to tackle the catcher and Burton move the ball out wide but a tackle of Betty saw the ball lost. However, great pressure by the Burton pack saw Ludlow driven backwards and turned ninety degrees for a repeat scrum with Burton’s put in. This time Burton were driven back but Dutton picked up going backwards and managed to elude the on rushing cover to set up a six phase move that saw Burton press forward but Archer failed to attack the ball and a chance was lost. Burton were playing the better rugby but the width of the pitch caused problems and nullified the pace of Archer and Danny Smith out wide. So Burton were forced to attack through midfield and from a lineout Josh Cartwright stole the ball to set-up a five man drive that saw Burton awarded a penalty that Archer slotted between the posts to take the reduce Ludlow’s lead to just one point at 7-6.

Burton failed to gather the restart with Will Brooks nearly knocking on but the support around him saw ‘Spud’ Taylor save the day by taking the ball forward before Luke Peach rolled the ball into touch on the opposition twenty-two. From the lineout Burton drove forward and with Ludlow trying to pull down the maul the referee awarded a penalty try that Archer converted and give Burton a 13-7 lead that, although subject to some heavy Ludlow pressure for the next ten minutes, they were never to lose again.

A great take by Kev Birt saw him put in one of his typical bustling runs that took play to inside the opposition twenty-two where Ludlow were caught offside. Archer again made no mistake with the kick and Burton now led 16-7 as the half-time whistle blew.

From the kick-off Burton had to replace Tivey with James Hamilton after the former hurt his neck when stopping an opposition players powerful run. Burton had another six phase counter attack with Birt again making masses of ground. But, as in previous matches, Burton were again guilty of losing the ball at the breakdown and this gave the opposition confidence to try and dominate the game as Burton struggled to retain possession. A spell of twenty minutes followed with Ludlow pressing and controlling the game as Burton struggled to get any pattern into their play as passes went astray. Burton then replaced Will Brooks with Ken Archer and also gave Danny Campbell his debut when he came on a scrumhalf for Ben Peach. Although Burton were still guilty of failing to retain possession in contact these changes did appear to help settle Burton as their play became more structured and meaningful but they also conceded a penalty for offside which Ludlow converted to reduce Burton’s lead to 16-10.

With the clock slowly ticking away to fulltime Burton at last started to play to their potential as Birt, Dutton and Nathan Taylor all made strong runs to take Burton inside the oppositions half. Ludlow again stole the ball but as they tried to run out of defence Lewis Brooks swept like a hawk to intercept a pass and race thirty metres to touch down for a try that Archer converted to take the score to 23-10. Then a superb piece of passing between Campbell, Peach, Brooks and Archer saw the latter take a return pass off Brooks to streak clear of the defence and touch down near the posts. He then converted this to give Burton a final and rewarding 30-10 victory to travel home with.