With two of their elder pack stalwarts unavailable, Charl Neethling and Jon Edwards, Burton travelled to play Old Halesonians and suffered their fourth defeat of the season and for the first time failed to secure a losing bonus point. Facing an opposition front row of two to three stone a man heavier the Burton pack was always going to struggle in the heavy, muddy conditions and four first half virtual push-over tries conceded on the grounds of sheer size only confirmed this fact. Despite the defeat the Burton side stuck to the task well and held their own except for the initial onslaught they faced.

After the opening half hour, where Halesonians sheer size dominated every phase of the game, a thrashing looked to be on the cards, but after that Burton held their own and showed immense character to the end. Burton kicked off facing a slope and steady drizzle and Hales cleared for Burton to counter attack with promise as Jon Parkinson and Danny Smith made ground back to half way before the ball was knocked on. Old Hales took the ball blind from the scrummage and from a grubber kick into the corner Burton conceded a penalty from which the home side took a lineout and drove over to score the opening try in the corner. The conversion was unsuccessful and the score 5-0 after 4 minutes.

Shortly after the re-start Darryl Banton chased his own up and under, tackled the receiver and Burton turned the ball over. Kelvin Browne and Tom Murphy took play forward before a Lewis Brooks grubber kick was scrambled frantically clear by the opposition. Handling errors due to the greasy conditions regularly punctuated the game and the home side gave Burton a torrid time in the scrummages. The home side were also a handful in the loose and from a quick lineout they used quick hands before a grubber kick to the corner was touched down by Burton. But in the scramble to get the ball down Burton’s problems were not helped as Brooks was injured and left the field with an ankle injury to be replaced by Ian Gilmour. From the five metre scrum Hales used effective hands to transfer the ball to their right wing to score a try in the corner which again went unconverted.

Burton were soon under pressure again and a clever cross-kick forced Nathan Taylor to take the ball over his line and touch-down. The massive Hales scrummage again surged forward and as proceedings broke up the referee awarded a penalty try and the conversion took the score to 17-0 after 18 minutes. For the next twenty minutes Burton were pinned in their own half and gave away a string of penalties and a further ten metres for back chat on one occasion. With the rain getting heavier the home side kicked a penalty to the corner and then cleverly switched the point of attack in the maul before ploughing over for a converted try. The home side piled on the pressure and although Parkinson did a superb job tidying up at the base of the scrum he was always on the back foot. Luke Peach and Lawrence Betty put in huge hits and this seemed to lift the young Burton side as they then clawed their way back up field. Kieran Hawketts, Josh Cartwright and Ken Archer all made strong carries before another Peach tackle forced a penalty on the stroke of half time, but Dave Archer’s kick just shaved the post and the half ended 24-0.

In the second half great work from Kelvin Browne and Ken Archer showed Burton could get into the game and they began to enjoy slightly the better of the territory. A great break by Gilmour was followed by a run for the corner by Sam Smith but he was edged into touch. Dave Archer saw the chance for an interception but at full stretch in the treacherous underfoot conditions he was unable to keep his balance. After twenty minutes of the half Burton range the changes and a fit again Jason Hooper replaced Hawketts at hooker and Danny Campbell replaced Banton at scrum-half. But shortly after wards a dead leg forced Browne from the field, so Hawketts returned to the fray at hooker and Hooper moved on to the flank.

From a scrum against the head Hales pressed forward but fumbled on the Burton twenty-two, Burton’s Campbell quickly seized the loose ball and jinked his way forward before kicking down the wing but he was impeded on his chase after the ball. Burton opted for the penalty where the ball had landed from the kick and then kicked for corner. Burton drove line-out forward before spinning the ball out to Betty who cut back infield to set up a ruck. Josh Cartwright and Ed Henry both made further ground before Campbell darted through for an excellent try, unfortunately Archer narrowly missed the conversion. Burton’s injury problems continued as Henry injured his shoulder at the re-start and Banton replaced him on the flank. However, Burton carried on pressing forward trying to get back to bonus point territory and Gilmour and Danny Smith were both stopped close to the line as Burton threw everything into attack. However a break-out by Old Hales gave them a good field position and a well worked try saw them get a final unconverted try and a 29-5 victory.

With this second successive win over fellow top four opponents’s places this strong Halesonians outfit in strong contention for promotion, but Burton will have no fears of facing them and look forward to meeting them in drier, firmer conditions at Peel Croft later in the season.