Such was the confidence of a the home team that part way through the second half they tweeted “The Reds only need one more try to give us a five point win and take us above Burton into second”.

Burton kicked off and wing Dewi Williams tackled the catcher before a frenetic opening two minutes played out in the Hereford half. Burton imposed themselves at the first two scrums and soon were asking question through Loz Betty, Liam Hucknell, Damon Varney and Matt Boden. On seven minutes Daryl Banton slotted a penalty. It was then Burton’s turn to defend and they held put until the 21st minute when Hereford attacked in centre field and superbly exploited a dog-leg in defence to score under the posts and take a 7-3 lead. Burton were given a penalty and Ian Gilmour drilled the ball to within 5 metres of the Hereford line. The ball was spun out to wing Sam Benjamin who made a diagonal run from right to left and was unable to control the ball as he attempted to touch it down. Hereford cleared their lines and then repeatedly kicked for touch to pin Burton back until Ben Cook stole a 5 meter lineout. Matt Tivey and Boden both made ground before a penalty chance came for Banton. The ball slid wide to the clear delight of the home faithful and they were soon buoyed by a second try. After stout defence from Burton with Craif Dutton and James Burrough prominent, Hereford fielded a clearance kick and moved the ball quickly to the left wing before running round under the posts. The simple conversion made it 14-3 and was the last notable action before the break. Varney was injured in the process and replaced by Jono Parkinson.

The Hereford kick off went straight out giving Burton a scrum, however disaster struck and in the blink of an eye the home side exploited the blind-side and extended their lead to 18 points. The hosts were now playing with real confidence and things didn’t look good for Burton. Will Brooks replaced Joe Gazzard in the second row. From broken play near half way Banton managed to hack the ball forward and Gilmour came very close to scoring. A five metre scrum was awarded to Burton and after three re-sets Hereford seized the advantage, for the first time all day, and broke clear. A kick and chase from Hereford went dead from what was the last time the home side really threatened. Betty and Benjamin led the charge as Burton took play to within 5 metres. The visitors were unable to score until a long pass from Gilmour reached Benjamin who somehow then managed to squeeze in at the right hand corner. Banton struck the conversion imperiously and Burton now trailed by eleven points going into the last quarter. Charl Neethling came on at Loose Head for Tom Murphy. A 30 metre break from Betty took play into the Hereford half before he off-loaded to the explosive Benjamin who touched down in the corner. Agonisingly Banton’s kick struck the upright to deny closing the gap to within seven points. Burton then conceded a series of penalties and Hereford looked to finish off Burton. Tom Harris stole a lineout to relieve the pressure for Burton. A further attack was repelled and with the clock running out Burton made their way into the Hereford half of the field. As a scrum went round 90 degrees Burton were awarded the put-in and subsequently a penalty. Banton faced a thirty five metre straight kick and struck it beautifully to make the score Hereford 24 Burton 18 as the whistle blew immediately afterwards.

This second half rally keeps Burton second in the league by a point with a game in hand. Meanwhile Lichfield secured promotion and fourth placed Walsall moved to within six points of Burton. In Midlands One East Derby slipped up at Kettering, but sit in second twenty points behind Peterborough Lions and twelve ahead of Bugbrooke, with all three sides having four games to play.