Burton 80 Northwich 0
Despite the overnight rain making conditions very greasy and far from easy for ball handling Burton returned to winning ways with a spectacular thirteen try blitz over visitors Northwich at Peel Croft on Saturday. While the score-line indicates a very one-sided game with Burton’s opponents not getting any points Northwich never gave up and even in the last few minutes only some great defensive work kept the Burton line intact to give supporters plenty to talk about in their post match conversations.

From Northwich’s kick-off Lewis Brooks gathered the ball and set the trend for the day as he raced downfield with Luke Peach and Ed Henry in support. After making sixty metres Brooks fed Peach who perfectly timed his pass to Henry for the flanker to touch down under the posts, Dave Archer made no mistake adding the extra points and Burton led 7-0 after less than a minutes play. The restart saw the visitors stayed camped on the Burton twenty-two but strong home defence stopped any ideas they had about putting points on the board before some hard running by Ken Archer, Josh Cartwright and Charl Neethling put the ball in the hands of Lawrence Betty and Brooks who released Danny Smith on a mazy run that saw him tackled just before the opponent’s twenty-two. From the ensuing ruck Northwich were penalised for slowing the ball and Archer’s kicked sailed over the bar to add three points to Burton’s total.

Jon Edwards took the restart and charged forward, dummying and side-stepping, before feeding Nathan Taylor and Kelvin Browne as Burton reached the opponents twenty-two. Here Brooks took the final pass to race in for his first of four tries and Archer slotted over the conversion to put Burton well in control 17-0 ahead with just eight minutes gone.

Another break by Browne was halted and Northwich counter attacked, but again lack of ideas saw them fail to press home any real advantage as Edwards and Neethling set up a move for Tom Murphy to surge forward before Peach, Betty and Brooks combined for the latter to chip ahead and win the race for the touch down for his second try, but in doing so Brooks was injured and left the field replaced by Ian Gilmour.

A yellow card for lying on saw Northwich reduced to fourteen men as Burton piled on the pressure and Gilmour was soon in action after Edwards again initiated another attack that saw him feed Browne who twisted and weaved his way round defenders making thirty metres. He then spun the ball out wide to Peach and Betty who passed the ball to Danny Smith to race down the touchline. When faced with two defenders he turned and slipped the ball to Gilmour whose beautifully angled run saw him race over the line to score and take Burton’s lead to twenty-seven points.

No sooner had Northwich got back to a full compliment of players then a second players was sent to the sin-bin for repeated infringements to allow Burton to again storm forward and once again a loose clearance gathered by Danny Smith was fed to Sam Smith who fed Gilmour on halfway for his little legs to race over the greasy ground skipping by would-be defenders to score in the corner. Next it was Burton’s forwards who once again showed their domination as they drove forward to carry Taylor over the line for the first of his two tries and Archer’s conversion sailed between the uprights just as the halftime whistle sounded to give Burton 1 39-0 lead at the break.

Jon Parkinson replaced Ed Henry and Burton kicked-off the second half with him charging forward to just miss catching the ball and racing clear with his first touch of the game. For the next fifteen minutes both sides struggled to keep control of the ball with possession continually changing hands. But eventually it was Burton’s pack urged on by Danny Campbell at scrumhalf who gained the upper hand and after Campbell had made several sniping runs Taylor forced his way over the line for his second try. Archer added the extra points and Burton began to re-establish themselves on the game as Brooks, who had re-entered the fray by replacing Betty, put in a kick ahead that bounced into touch five metres from the opponents line. A great steal by Ken Archer saw the Burton pack drive over the line for Jon Edwards to emerge with the ball having scored a try to take the score to 49-0.

Burton made more changes with Darryl Banton replacing Campbell at scrumhalf and in his first action he broke blind to feed Gilmour who passed inside to Peach who fed Dave Archer for him to race over for a try that he then converted to add seven more points to Burton’s lead. Then a quick tap penalty by Banton started a move that saw Peach once again pass to Archer, who stumbled as he passed to Gilmour, but a great take by the latter saw him gather the ball to race in for his hat-trick.

Although Burton led 61-0 it was the visitors Northwich who piled on the pressure to force a lineout five metres from the home line after a penalty against Burton saw them kick into the corner. But the ball was over thrown and taken by Browne at the back of the line and he set off on one of the finest runs ever seen on the Croft as he twisted, weaved and powered his way the length of the field before handing off the last defender to cross the line in the corner for a splendid individual try. Archer’s kick nearly matched the try but hit the posts leaving Burton ahead by 66-0.

To pour salt into the wounds a scrum on halfway saw Banton break blind and feed Archer, who turned back inside to find Gilmour and Brooks in support for the latter to race over the line for his hat-trick and for Archer to again add the extra points.

After two tries like this and trailing by seventy-three points most sides would have capitulated but not Northwich who stormed back into the Burton twenty-two and lay siege to the Burton line. For the next ten minutes it took all of Burton’s resolve and tenacity to keep a clean sheet. Neethling, Parkinson, Taylor, Murphy and the rest of the Burton pack tackled like demons to stop this continuous attacking by the visitors. But a loose pass was snapped up by Brooks who raced the length of the field to score his forth try of the day before Archer completed the scoring for the day by adding the conversion and giving Burton a thoroughly deserved and spectacular thirteen try victory over luckless opponents Northwich.