when at Peel Croft on Saturday they claimed their first Midlands I (West) victory with a fine 32-0 defeat of local county rivals Walsall. Home supporters were treated to a five try haul by Burton to which Walsall had no response thanks to some excellent defensive work by the whole of the Burton team, particularly in the last ten minutes as Walsall stretched every sinew to try and break their duck.

Burton kicked-off and a superb tackle by Joe Carpenter on the Walsall receiver forced him to knock-on and so gave Burton a scrum on the opposition twenty-two. A blindside break by Darryl Banton supported by Danny Clarke produced good quick ball for Tom Bartram to open Burton's account with a try inside the first two minutes.

From the restart Burton were penalised for going over the top and an attempt at goal by Walsall sailed narrowly wide. Despite this let-off Burton appeared to relax and a period of unforced errors, knock-on and wayward passes, saw them let Walsall back into the game as play hovered around the halfway line. But luck was on Burton's side, as Walsall's backline moves seemed to always result in players colliding with each other to give Burton the ball as it was spilled. Although on one rare occasion it took a great tackle by Lewis Brooks to stop the speeding Walsall winger as he scorched down the touchline.

A steal by Banton on the Walsall twenty-two was wasted as Luke Peach tried to chip ahead instead of keeping the ball in hand and feeding his eager backs, and this allowed Walsall to clear to the halfway line. From here Burton lost the lineout and Walsall again tried to start an attack, but again a knock-on soon saw Burton get the ball back. From the scrum Burton burst down the blindside with Tom Gregory, John Philliskirk, Rob Wakelin and Will Brooks all taking play on but the ball was lost and as Walsall tried to clear they only found Dave Archer. He gathered the ball and raced infield evading several would-be tacklers before being stopped. But Carpenter was on hand to snap-up the ball and race in to score under the posts, Archer's conversion increased Burton's lead to 12-0 after thirty-five minutes.

The restart produced a scrum on the Burton ten-metre line and in a well, rehearsed move the ball was shipped along the line for Philliskirk to take the ball at pace and burst through the middle. He raced forty-metres before passing to Lewis Brooks who just reached the line to score as he was tackled. This gave Burton a 17-0 lead that they took into the break.

Burton started the second half as they had the first and a kick by Peach was chased and gathered by Bartram, who fed Lewis Brooks but he was stopped a few metres out. The resulting scrum saw Bartram make a half break to feed Danny Smith and raced forward towards the line. Although tackled his rolling momentum took him over the line to increase Burton's lead to 22-0 after just two minutes of the half.

Burton continued to apply pressure and a great break by Carpenter saw him make thirty metres before feeding Charl Neethling, but his pass to Archer was judged forward as the winger raced over the line. Another period of poor passing and lost ball in the tackle saw Burton fail to put further scores on the board and with twenty minutes to go Burton rang the changes with Josh Cartwright, Rich Wilton and Craig Dutton replacing Brookes, Neethling and Gregory.

Cartwright was soon in action with a great take at a lineout on halfway and the Burton threequarters again brought Philliskirk bursting through the middle and race to within ten-metres of the line before feeding Bartram to scamper in for his second try of the day. Now leading 27-0 the restart saw Burton's Dutton burst from a ruck to feed Rob Wakelin and with Simon Spencer in support this pair took the ball twenty metres upfield. The ensuing ruck saw Bartram again burst through to within five metres of the line. Good quick ball was flashed along the Burton line to Smith who dived over in the corner for Burton's fifth and final score.

The final score line of 32-0 should give the Burton squad the faith and confidence in themselves for the coming league season