A very, hot Saturday afternoon on Peel Croft saw Burton began their home league season with a solid but unflattering victory over Stratford that included four tries for the extra bonus point.

Dave Archer kicked off and from the first scrum the Burton pack soon showed their power and dominance, but unfortunately this was nullified all match by refereeing decisions to let the visitors enjoy far more possession than their strength deserved from set pieces. Time and again the Burton pack drove the opposition back only to be penalised and allow Stratford to clear their lines. From one such piece of play Ed Henry stole the ball at the back of a lineout on the Burton ten-metre line and the ball was spun out wide along the Burton backs for Sam Smith to make a great thirty metre break. But as the ball was recycled and again moved out wide the Stratford winger swooped to intercept and race eighty metres to put his side 0-7 in the lead with a converted try.

Burton kept up the pressure, but time and again either the whistle or poor handling came to the visitor’s aid. However, when given the chance Archer replied with huge clearances to take play back inside the visiting twenty-two. From one of these kicks Stratford were penalised for killing the ball and Burton opted for a scrum and Jon Edwards picked up to drive forward down the blindside his pass found Darryl Banton, who passed out wide to Archer who raced in to touchdown and convert his own try and level the score at 7-7.

Burton continued to press forward with runs by Ian Gilmour, Nathan Taylor, Ken Archer and Banton but all too often the ball was lost in the tackle. Then a great burst by Kelvin Browne saw a ruck inside the visitor’s twenty-two and quickly recycled ball saw Luke Peach dummy his way over to give Burton a 12-7 lead after twenty minutes play.

As half-time approach Burton had little to show for their total domination, but after a missed penalty attempt another Smith run supported by Gilmour, Taylor and Jason Hooper took play back into the away twenty-two and Lewis Brooks carved through the defence to score under the posts for Banton to convert and take the score at 19-7 at halftime.

From the restart Browne made several telling bursts supported by Josh Cartwright, Taylor, Henry and Ken Archer, but too many decisions against then and eventually a yellow card to Henry saw Burton being kicked back into their own half. All this retreating told on the Burton defence, who at times were slow to react, and a long pass out-wide saw the Stratford winger race in for a score.

Leading 19-12 Burton attacked and as Brooks broke clear the referee’s whistle blew to stop the game with an injured visitor on the floor, but a ‘Lazarus like’ recovery saw Burton awarded a penalty and the game continue as the visiting scrum-half was yellow-carded. Banton’s kick split the uprights and Burton’s lead increased to 22-12.

But Stratford soon nullified this with a penalty of their own before they then pressed the Burton line with a series of hard, forward drives that produced a try to take the score to 22-20 with ten minutes to play.

This was the signal for Burton to up the pressure and breaks by Gilmour, Banton, Brooks and Smith all took play close to the opposition line. From a maul following one of these efforts Ken Archer and Cartwright took the ball forward and Banton quickly recycled it to Matt Davies who raced down the touchline to cross over for the fourth and final try and give Burton a 27-20 victory.

While gaining a bonus point at the last minute Burton's scrummage domination and back's quality deserved much better and faster reward than it achieved