A lovely, dry Saturday afternoon saw Burton bounce back from last week’s crushing defeat at Bourneville with an emphatic, if not flawless, 38-13 victory over bottom of the table Bedworth on Peel Croft. The six try victory saw Burton play with plenty of flair and panache and earn the extra bonus point, but at times home supporters could seen to wincing as Bedworth made Burton struggle with a lesson in ball retention, and although the result was never in doubt a better ability in control and retention would surely have seen Burton post a much bigger winning margin.

Burton’s Dave Archer kicked deep to start the first half and immediately Bedworth demonstrated their strength and only tactic as their pack drove back up field with a series of short forward bursts. Fortunately Burton were alert to this and some great defensive work by Jon Edwards, Dave Fitchett and ‘Spud’ Taylor backed-up by the rest of the forwards stopped this on the halfway line. For the next ten minutes play hovered around this area as both packs of forwards tested each other out with neither really gaining any real advantage despite two powerful runs by Kev Birt and one apiece by Nathan Taylor and Matt Tivey. Then with thirteen minutes gone another surging run by Birt was continued by scrumhalf Danny Campbell who took play to within a metre of the visitor’s line before being stopped. The Bedworth clearance attempt only reached just inside the twenty-two to set-up Burton with a lineout and an ideal scoring position, but the lineout was lost and as the opposition tried to make ground ‘Spud’ Taylor stole the ball and darted forward. But Burton were penalised for going over the top and Bedworth cleared the danger.

From the lineout the visitors tried to pass the ball along their line but a great tackle by Lawrence Betty saw them spill the ball. Lewis Brooks swooped on the ball and with a superb one-handed pick-up he gathered the ball to race sixty metres and score under the posts. Archer converted and Burton led 7-0 after fifteen minutes play.

But, as usual, following a score Burton immediately conceded points when Betty was yellow carded for a deliberate knock-on and Bedworth’s kick took full advantage to put the ball between the sticks and reduce the lead to 7-3. So with a man down Burton compounded matters by giving away another penalty that the opposition again converted to take their score to within one pint of Burton at 7-6.

After this five minutes of mayhem in Burton’s ranks they started to regain their form and from a scrum Edwards picked-up to dummy and then feed Lee English down the narrow side, but the winger came inside and was tackled for ‘Spud’ Taylor to take the move on and get to the opposition twenty-two. The resulting maul saw Campbell feed quick ball to Brooks who again sliced open the opposition defence before drawing the fullback and passing to Danny Smith who raced in for a try that Archer converted to take Burton’s lead to 14-6. The rest of the half saw Burton struggling to retain the ball as time and again whenever they took it into contact and it was lost whereas Bedworth kept possession and made ground. In addition futile kicks by Burton’s threequarters saw chances squandered as with pace and skill to spare the ball was kicked aimlessly away.

This same pattern of play continued for the first ten minutes of the second half before Burton started to get it together and Betty, Brooks and English made telling runs. A great take by Ken Archer saw Burton win a rare lineout but the possession was squandered as yet another kick saw the ball booted to oblivion. A pick-up by Edwards saw the ball passed out to Betty and Brooks who combined to take play inside the visitor’s twenty-two and from the ruck Campbell fed the onrushing Birt who smashed his way over for a try that Archer again converted and Burton now led 21-6.

Slow ball from a maul inside the Burton twenty-two saw Luke Peach having to force a break and using his upper body strength he managed to feed Brooks who pinned back his ears to race the eighty metres to the opposition line and score. Archer’s kick narrowly missed as it sailed just outside the uprights but Burton’s lead increased to 26-6. At this point Tom Murphy entered the fray as he replaced Matt Tivey.

The restart saw Ken Archer, Nathan Taylor and Edwards charge forward to set up Dave Archer and as he was stopped ‘Spud’ Taylor continued up field, but as a ruck formed the ball spun out the Bedworth side and they seized it to charge back towards the Burton line with a series of kicks that had English hacking the ball into touch on his own twenty-two. Sensing the possibility of a score Bedworth used their hard running forwards in a series of charges to take play towards the Burton line. Although Burton defended well with Fitchett, Murphy, Edwards and Cartwright to the fore eventually the opposition flanker burrowed his way over for a try that was converted and took the score to 26-13.

With Brooks having to leave the field injured to be replaced by Ian Gilmour Burton now rang another change with Ben Peach replacing Campbell at scrumhalf. Peach was soon in action when Edwards picked-up from the base of the scrum to break blind and feed Archer, who raced thirty metre before passing inside Ben Peach who dived over the line for a try near the uprights. Archer’s kick was again off target so Burton led by 31-13.

Burton retention in the tackle was still poor and many chances were lost as Bedworth turned-over the ball to start up their own counter attacks but the Burton defence held firm despite this pressure and a breakout by Gilmour and Betty took play to the halfway line. Betty raced clear and appeared to score but the referee pulled play back for a penalty to Burton for an earlier offside offence. But from the quick tap taken by Peach the forwards piled in and Fitchett eventually grounded the ball for Burton’s sixth try. Archer added the extra points to give Burton a final victory score of 38-13.