A large crowd enjoyed the spring sunshine as they awaited the teams arrival onto Peel Croft for the game between Burton and Whitchurch in a Midlands I (West) league fixture. The warming rays and entertaining game certainly raised the spirits of those watching as Burton moved to their thirteen league win of the season with a fine five try victory despite having to play the last fifteen minutes men short due to a sudden brandishing of yellow cards.

In the early stages Whitchurch based their game around their sizable No. 8, however the Burton back row didn’t allow him to cause any real problems. Dave Archer kicked intelligently from fly-half to push his side into the opposition twenty-two, however Burton just weren’t clicking when they came to the ‘Red Zone’. Burton centres Lewis Brooks and Sam Smith both made promising breaks but both sides were making handling errors despite the excellent, dry conditions.

Desperately seeking a score to break the dead-lock Burton started to mix things up with Daryl Banton starting to snipe round the edges and some smart inter-play between front five players including Nathan Taylor, Josh Cartwright and Charl Neethling. But still no points were forth coming then with twenty four minutes gone Whitchurch conceded a penalty forty metres out and Dave Archer lined up for goal, but the low raking kick struck the right hand upright and Whitchurch managed to scramble the ball away.

Whitchurch then attacked briefly before an excellent turnover from Joel Briggs gave Burton possession once more. A penalty forty five meters out gave Archer another chance and this time the sweetest of strikes sent the ball over the bar to give Burton a 3-0 lead. Archer and winger Sam Benjamin both found gaps in the defence but still the final pass was either dropped or not to hand so stopping the move being completed. Whitchurch then camped in the Burton twenty two for a spell and missed a chance to level the score from a penalty as the kick sailed wide.

Burton made it back to half way before some individual brilliance earned Burton’s first try of the day. Sam Smith weaved through heavy traffic on half way and then headed for the line leaving a trail of defenders in his wake as he raced over the opposition line to score. Archer converted to give Burton an 8-0 lead. Unfortunately youngster Joel Briggs then left the field with a shoulder injury to be replaced by James Burroughs. Ed Henry made a charge after the re-start and a penalty gave Burton chance to move deep into the Whitchurch half. But Burton lost possession and then Whitchurch’s best attack of the game had them threatening the Burton line before Tom Murphy made a turnover and the half time whistle saw Burton keeping their clean sheet intact.

Jono Edwards replaced Henry in the engine room as Whitchurch established themselves in the Burton half before Jason Knight latched onto an overthrown lineout and launched a counter-attack as he charged forward. This time Burton found some continuity as Kelvin Browne and Sam Smith took the ball on before Banton made a darting run to set up a driving maul which ended with Knight scoring and Archer put the ball between the uprights to convert the try.

Whitchurch attacked next and a combination of the bounce and tripping over his own ‘large-sized’ feet saw Jon Philliskirk look in danger before managing to get his hands on the ball. Brooks and Danny Smith then combined in Burton’s next attack but poor finishing meant it came to no avail.
Then Philliskirk gathered a kick inside his own half and ran towards the left wing finding Browne in support. Browne slipped the ball to Benjamin who immediately passed to Archer on the wing who went on to score in the corner. But Archer was unlucky not to add the extra points as his kick from wide-out hit the post. Browne gathered the re-start and stormed back over half way where he fed the supporting Burroughs who set up a ruck and the backs slickly transferred the ball out to Benjamin who raced over for a score, without the visitors having touched the ball. Archer converted to give Burton a 27-0 lead. It wasn’t long before Burton were on the attack again when a sweeping move involved several players and took play to the Whitchurch twenty two, where the opposition conceded a penalty for slowing the ball. Banton took a quick tap and go before finding Cartwright in support, and he then fed Neethling and the ever-green prop knew exactly where to go as he powered over the line to touch down near the right hand corner and Archer again found the target from the touchline. So by raising the tempo of the game to a new a level that Whitchurch just couldn’t live with Burton had scored twenty six points in the less than twenty minutes.

Philliskirk was replaced by Matt Boden and Burton looked to be continuing their purple patch with another attack and had an advantage before the Referee penalised Knight for obstruction and gave him a yellow card.

With less than ten minutes to go Whitchurch came into the game more and worked a decent try to get on the scoreboard, but the conversion was missed. However the visitors powered forward and again pinned Burton back. In the dying moments Knight returned to play only for Banton to be then carded for coming in from the side at a breakdown 10 metres from the Burton line. Whitchurch took the penalty quickly and Edwards tackled the player having not retreated and he was also given a yellow card. With this two man advantage Whitchurch took the scrum and their No. 8 picked up and scored in the corner. An excellent conversion preceded the final whistle, but an excellent third quarter from Burton had pressed home their superiority and they took a full five points for this 34-12 victory.