From the kickoff they showed an improvement on last week’s performance and scored inside a couple of minutes. They won a lineout on the halfway line and the ball was passed along the backs for centre Joe Maskrey to score. The conversion was missed.
Burton went on the attack again but were penalized for crossing, so the Lions were able to clear the ball up to the Burton 22 metre line. From the lineout Burton were penalized again for straying offside. The kicker slotted the ball between the posts to make the score 3-5.
Burton were soon on the scoreboard again as centre Alex Nesbit broke through the defence and passed to winger Josh Kent to score in the corner. Will Simpson again failed to add the extra points.
Burton were on top at this stage but wasted some of their possession with unnecessary kicks. However, when the home team were penalised for a high tackle Simpson kicked the goal to stretch their lead further.
The Burton pack now got in on the act and made some good carries before captain Dominic Taylor made a break and found lock Joe Gazzard in support to score under the posts. Simpson again added the two extra points.
The last ten minutes of the half was taken up with a series of scrums. The visitors were awarded a penalty 5 metres from the Lions’ goal line and chose a scrum. The Lions were penalised five times as Burton attempted to push them over the line so it was difficult for the few travelling supporters to understand why the referee did not award a penalty try. However, on the sixth attempt the Burton pack pushed over with Taylor getting the touch down and thereby securing a try bonus point. Simpson again converted with the last kick of the half so the half time score was 3-27.
From the restart Burton were soon on the attack again. They carried the ball from their own half right up to the Lions’ goal line where it went loose but Gazzard was on hand to pick up and go over for his second try of the afternoon. Simpson again converted.
Burton seemed to go to sleep after that and some poor tackling in the midfield allowed the home team to break through and score. The conversion was missed.
This was to be the last score for either side as the rest of the game became a tedious affair with both sides making mistakes and although the home team had more possession, mainly due to the visitors’ errors, they were unable to penetrate the Burton defence again. Burton will be delighted to get five points away from home, but will need to improve on the second half performance if they are to compete with some of the better sides in the league. The final score was Peterborough Lions 8 Burton 34.