TheLeicestershire side were promoted from Midlands 1 West at the end of last season. The early pressure came from the home team who forced a five-metre scrum. With prop Matt Tivey back after injury, the Burton scrum was much more solid this week and they took the ball against the head. However, a poor clearance kick gave the ball straight back to the home team who drove towards the line. Although Burton
tackled well they were unable to prevent a try being scored. The conversion was missed.

This try seemed to be a wake up call for Burton who started to retain possession and do some attacking of their own. The forwards took the ball int the Syston 22 where it was recycled quickly and passed along the back line to Winger Nick Oxley, who outstripped his opposite number to score in the corner. The conversion was missed but the scores were now level at 5-5.

At this time the home team defence were unable to deal with the running skills of the Burton backs and after centre Dave Archer made a break he passed the ball to winger Dale Koopman, who ran from the 22-metre line to score in the corner. The conversion was again missed but Burton were now in the lead.

After the restart the Burton backs were soon causing problems again. They got into the opposition 22 where they were awarded a penalty. Scrum half Chaz Bunting took a quick tap but was pulled back before he had run ten metres. The offending Syston player was sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes and the visitors were awarded another penalty. This time they decided to accept the three points on offer and full back Will
Simpson stepped up to kick the goal.

Burton were dominant in the set scrums at this stage allowing scrum Bunting to be on the front foot. He made a break from the base of the scrum but when he was tacked the ball was quickly recycled and passed to centre Archer who scored. The conversion was again missed.

The visitors did not have it all their own way and now it was time for the home team to exert some pressure of their own. After a series of penalties number eight Lelo Gemashe was yellow carded for killing the ball and the Syston kicker added three more points to their total.

With the extra man Syston attacked again but the Burton defence was strong. When the backs got hold of the ball they decided to run instead of a clearing kick. Simpson made a great break but seemingly having to much time to think about the next move failed to pass the ball to Oxley who had a clear run to the line.

However, Burton kept the pressure on and were awarded a scrum. They won the ball from the scrum and fly half Harry Titley kicked ahead for Archer to score his second try ensuring a try bonus point. Simpson added the extra points. This was the last kick of the half so the score at half time was 8-25.

As is usual with Burton they had a period after half time where they seemed to lose concentration and intensity. They lost lineouts and also made a series of poor clearance kicks to put themselves under pressure and although their scrambled defence was working well they were unable to prevent the home side from scoring two more tries, one of which was converted to bring their score to 20 within a converted
try of taking the lead.

This could have been a worrying period for the visitors but they pulled themselves together and scored two more tries of their own. The first of these was from a drive by the forwards with flanker Jack Neal getting the touch down. The second came from a break by Archer who passed the ball to Koopman. He passed it inside to Gemashe, now back on the field after his period in the sin bin, who scored under the posts.

Syston tried to get back in the game but in truth never really looked like breaching the visitors’ defence again. Burton worked their way into the Syston 22 where they were awarded a penalty. Simpson scored the three points with the last kick of the game so the final score was Syston 20 Burton 42. A much needed five league points for Burton.