All the early pressure came from the visitors and although Burton tackled well, they conceded a scrum on their 5 metre line. The Sheffield pack drove over to open the scoring after just a few minutes. The kicker added the extra points.

Burton bounced back and soon had the visitors under pressure forcing them to concede a penalty on their own 5 metre line. Burton chose a scrum and this time it was the turn of the Burton pack to score a pushover try, with captain Dominic Taylor getting the touch down. Will Simpson’s attempt to add the extra points hit the post and bounced out, but Burton were back in the game.

Sheffield regained possession from the restart, but the Burton defence was good and they were able to clear the ball. When they got hold of the ball again, fly half Florencio Llerena put a well weighted grubber kick through the Sheffield defence. This was gathered by centre Loz Betty who passed it to flanker Jack Neal who ran in to score taking the home team into the lead. Simpson this time added the extra points to take Burton further into the lead.

Burton were playing well at this stage with the forwards, especially James Davies and Joe Gazzard making some good carries. The visitors defended well but as they had done on earlier occasions, they stepped offside and Burton were awarded a penalty. Simpson kicked a goal from about 30 metres to further increase the Burton lead.

Burton then conceded a strange try. A poor kick instead of going to touch found a Sheffield player. Betty rushed out of the back line and made a crunching tackle but the ball popped into the hands of the supporting Sheffield player who ran through the gap left by Betty to score a fortuitous try. The conversion was missed.

The visitors then went into the lead again through a combination of their own good running and handling skills and poor tackling by the Burton defence. The try was converted to make the score 12-19.

Just before half time Burton were again attacking the visitor’s try line. The forwards were very patient and kept driving at the line. However, the Sheffield defence was good and Burton eventually had to let the ball out. The defenders had been sucked in so there was plenty of space for full back Simpson to join the back line and score. He converted his own try with the last kick of the half so at half time Burton were back in the lead at 22-19.

Burton are still making mistakes, which last season they got away with, but at this level get punished Shortly after the restart a wild pass was thrown which went to ground and was snapped up by a Sheffield defender. The ball was passed along the back line for the centre to score.

The conversion was missed but the visitors were again back in the lead.
Sheffield then went further into the lead when they won a lineout on the 5 metre line and set up a driving maul to take them over the line. The conversion was missed.

Burton refused to give in and made a comeback when Harry Titley on as a substitute for Llerena showed he also has kicking skills. His chip through was collected by Simpson who scored his second try of the afternoon. He failed to convert from the touchline.

Burton having worked their way back into the Sheffield half were awarded a penalty in front of the posts. Simpson kicked the goal to take Burton back into the lead.

Burton came under extreme pressure for the last 10 minutes of the game, which in part they brought on themselves by failing to clear the ball.
The Sheffield tackling was good and kept Burton pinned in their own 22. When the visitors got hold of the ball Burton tackled well but eventually Sheffield worked an overlap and scored. This time the kicker added the extra points to make the final score Burton 30 Sheffield 36.

This was a disappointing result after a good rugby match. Burton again got a deserved two points. If they cut out the mistakes they will start beating the better sides in the league.