The Coventry based side were relegated from the National 2 South league at the end of last season, so it was always going to be a difficult match. However Burton started very well and soon had the visitors under pressure. After some good running by the backs the ball was recycled quickly and passed to prop James Davies who had an easy run in to score under the posts. Will Simpson added the extra two points.

From the restart Burton put themselves under pressure immediately by knocking the ball forward. The visitors won the ball from the scrum and at the next breakdown, Burton were penalised for being offside. The Broadstreet kicker slotted the ball over to open their scoring.
The visitors now grew into the game and started to put some phases together. From a lineout on the Burton 22 they drove forward towards the try line. Although the initial defence by Burton was good they were unable to prevent a try being scored. The conversion was missed but Broadstreet had now gone ahead.

There followed a period of scrappy play by both sides and although the visitors had the lion’s share of possession they were unable to make it count. This was due to good defence by the home team and also a lot of handling errors by the Broadstreet backs. Burton did well to go in at half time only 7-8 down.

The visitors’ backs continued to make mistakes after the restart, allowing Burton to get into the 22 where they were awarded a penalty in front of the posts. Simpson kicked the goal to put the home team back into the lead.

The lead was short lived, however, as the visitors started to pile on the pressure. The Burton lineout had not been functioning well throughout the game and when they lost the ball on their own throw in the 22 they were unable to stop the Broadstreet forwards from scoring again. The kicker added the extra points.

The Broadstreet pack then started to dominate and when they were awarded a penalty five metres from the Burton line they chose a scrum. Burton were penalised again for afront row offence, so the visitors inevitably chose another scrum. Burton again offended due to the pressure from the Visitors’ front row and this time the referee had no hesitation in awarding a penalty try.

Burton were not finished yet however and although they squandered a try scoring chance when they lost their own line out ball following a penalty kick to the corner, the forwards were doing some good work in the loose. They eventually made progress into the visitors’ 22 where the ball was passed to winger Dewi Williams, who making his final appearance for Burton before going to live in Canada, ran around to score under the posts. The conversion was taken quickly by drop goal to try and save time but this was the last kick of the game as the referee blew for time immediately. The final score was Burton 17 Broadstreet 22.

Although Burton got a losing bonus point out of the game they will feel that it was a match they could have, and perhaps should have won. Opportunities do not come along very often at this level but need to be taken when they do.