Burton travelled to Syston in a confident mood following their impressive victory last week against Bromsgrove however, they were undone by an unusually very average defensive performance combined with clinical home team finishing and had to settle for just a try bonus point thanks to four second half tries.
Syston kicked off playing with a strong breeze in their favour and regained possession almost immediately making their way up to the Burton “22” on the left. Burton then won the first lineout of the game and drove the resulting maul very nicely up to the 10-metre line. Unfortunately, a handling error in midfield saw Syston regain possession and they all the way up to the Burton 5-metre line, where they knocked on at their first lineout. Burton were then guilty of driving in the scrum before the put in and Syston opted for the scrum to be re-set but this time the Burton pack drove them back with some ease and were awarded a penalty, which they cleared up to the “22”.
Possession was exchanged a few times with neither side able to break through two solid looking defensive lines. Burton showed that they were confident in their ability to move the ball wide despite the conditions with a very promising backs handling move which took them to the Syston 10-metre line. However, it was Syston that made the first telling break which led to the opening score of the game after about 10 minutes. The difficult conversion struck the post, so the lead was just 5 points. Syston 5-0 Burton.
The re-start saw Burton penalised for tackling a man in the air and Syston were able to get back into the Burton half. Again, possession was shared over the next few minutes, and it was Syston who looked much the happier, with Burton attempting, quite correctly, to keep the ball in hand rather than kick into the wind but everything was a little bit forced. Approaching mid-way through the half Syston, who were proving to be a handful at the breakdowns with their quick re-cycling, mounted another attack which led to their second try, scored wide on the left. As with the first try the well struck conversion hit the post to leave the score Syston 10-0 Burton.
Burton tried to hit back immediately and with the assistance of two foul play penalties they were soon putting the home defence under great pressure. However, the home defence stood firm and Burton were left a little frustrated that all this pressure came to nothing. Despite their obvious advantage in the scrums Burton continued to be kept out as they could not breakdown the home defence. After a series of scrums deep in Syston territory, tempers flared resulting in a yellow card being shown to one player from each team.
With just over 5 minutes to play before half-time Syston scored their third try when they broke through midfield rather too easily and an easy conversion made the score Syston 17-0 Burton. To their great credit Burton continued to pressurise the Syston line right up to the break but still had nothing to show for this as the half-time whistle blew. Burton supporters felt that there was a great opportunity to get back into the game so long as we did not concede the first score in the second half.
The worst possible start to the half occurred when the Syston forwards, who linked well all game to be fair, put together several phases to which Burton had no answer and with a successful conversion moved the score on to Syston 24-0 Burton. Sensing a big win was now on the cards, Syston began to dominate possession for a period of time and it was no surprise when they scored again soon after although the Burton supporters felt there was a double movement involved in the touch down? Another successful conversion took the score to a seemingly unassailable lead. Syston 31-0 Burton.
The re-start was kicked very deep and the ball was touched by a Syston player on its way into touch so Burton were awarded the throw on the left-hand side of 5-metre line. Burton won the throw and retained possession infield. Play was eventually taken blind where Tristen De Jager scored from close range wide on the left. The difficult conversion was narrowly missed but Burton had their first points of the day. Syston 31-5 Burton.
Fly-half Jamie Dutton used the assisting wind very well with several long kicks during the second half as Burton started to get back into the game. The Syston defence continued to be very difficult to penetrate but after about 10 minutes Burton were again within striking distance of the try line and James Davies was the next to score for Burton just five minutes later as their persistence and hard work finally paid off. Chaz Bunting added the conversion to make the score Syston 31-12 Burton.
Burton then suffered a real hammer blow when Jack Barry Neal was very harshly shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on when he was attempting to catch a stray pass! However, very poor defending allowed Syston’s big number 12 to break through again rather too easily almost mid-way through the half to score a converted try and increase their lead to Syston 38-12 Burton.
A combination of Burton’s tiredness and Syston’s good offloading game were the key factors in the next score which came about midway through the half. Poor defending allowed Syston to break through for their final score of the game. A missed conversion increased their lead to Syston 43-12 Burton and it was clearly game over.
However, Burton somehow managed to find the energy to get a better grip on the game and salvage a try bonus point with two further converted tries. The first came from a good catch and drive move on the left with the ball being moved nicely through the hands to Alfredo Bergada, who scored just to the right of the posts. With time running out Burton got their bonus point with replacement Charles Austin going over in the right corner, converted very well by Bunting to make the final score Syston 43-26 Burton. The win takes Syston up to 3rd place in the Midlands Premier League. Burton remain in 8th place just 9 points behind Scunthorpe in 7th and 20 points behind Sandbach in 6th.