Burton travelled to Dudley Kingswinford hoping for a much needed win to eradicate the disappointment of last week’s loss to Doncaster Phoenix. Unfortunately your reporter was delayed en route having arrived at the ground with the first half already about 15 minutes old the score stood at Dudley 5-0 Burton but Burton, playing with a strong breeze in their favour, were putting real pressure on the home try line. This pressure was rewarded with a great forwards effort with winger Elliot Grant touching down in the right hand corner about 20 minutes into the game. The conversion narrowly missed but Burton were back on level terms. However this parity did not last very long as Dudley benefited from some rather lenient refereeing to allow them to charge down an attempted clearance kick and they went straight back into the lead with an unconverted try. Dudley 10-5 Burton.

The re-start kick went straight into touch so Dudley had the put-in at the scrum on half way. Dudley then launched an attack which was rebuffed by an excellent Alex Nesbitt dominant tackle. Dudley, at this stage, were struggling to break through the excellent defensive work of the whole Burton team. Worryingly though they did keep possession for the majority of the remaining time in the half. Dudley, not surprisingly, were next to score despite the valiant Burton defensive work when Chaz Bunting put a foot in touch whilst fielding a Dudley kick on the Burton “22”. Dudley won the line-out and rumbled slowly over the try line in the left corner for their second try of the game. This time the conversion was successful and Dudley had extended their lead to Dudley 17-5 Burton. Burton were enjoying more success than of late in the scrum and the new combination at second row appeared to be working very well. With half time approaching rapidly Burton had an awful lot to do just to get back into the game let alone having any realistic chance of winning.

The second half started very much the same with Dudley dominating possession after a brief flurry of activity in the home team half from Burton. Alfie Grant relieved the pressure by taking well a bobbling kick and kicking clear himself which the Dudley full back could only divert into touch for a Burton throw. The ball was then moved swiftly through the backs hands from left to right and a very promising move was ended with a Burton foot in touch just on the home 5m line. Dudley used the same tactics as the first half with their forwards retaining in possession and battering into the excellent Burton defence. However they also used the breeze to good effect and moved steadily up into the danger zone and eventually scored a third try to the right of the posts after around 11 minutes. This was converted and Dudley had moved into what looked like a telling lead. Dudley 24-5 Burton.

With Dudley still able to maintain the majority of possession it seemed that Burton were staring another defeat firmly in the face. However when they finally started to win some ball the backs began to look extremely threatening and there was a feeling of increased hope in the small number of Burton supporters that had made the journey there. Burton then began to gain more confidence as another great handling move sent them deeper into home territory and for the first time in the game Burton had the upper hand. In spite of a couple of silly errors which halted good attacking moves it was Dudley’s turn to panic a little now and with the penalty count rising it was no surprise the referees patience was broken and a yellow card was issued with a line-out on the home 5 metre line on the left. This time Burton made no mistake with the throw and from the ensuing maul James Davies touched down for Burton’s second try of the game. The conversion against the wind proved too difficult but Burton had reduced the lead mid way through the half. Dudley 24-10 Burton.

Burton sensed a comeback was in the air and with numerical advantage they set about their task with great endeavour and courage as well as considerable skill. The team seemed to treat this as a signal to play a very expansive game and ran the ball almost at will. Suddenly gaps started to appear in the home defence as they could not live with the pace and handling skills of a now rampant Burton team. Burton scored their third unconverted try of the game just 3 minutes later and it really was game on now! Dudley 24-15 Burton. Burton used their bench players to provide fresh impetus in an attempt to carve out that much needed win with all three replacements making their mark on the game. Most telling in terms of the next score was a break in midfield from Harry Titley who carved open the home defence and linked with team mates to send play almost up to the line. Burton retained possession again and moved the ball wide to the right but a hotly disputed foot in touch once again meant a Burton attack resulted in nothing. The home throw was not straight and Burton had another opportunity at the 5 metre line-out on the right. Another great catch and drive saw Davies score again. The difficult conversion fell short once again as the scores became ever closer after 24 minutes. Dudley 24-20 Burton.

Dudley at this stage “upped” their game once again and it was Burton’s turn to defend. They did so with their lives and kept Dudley at a relatively harmless distance from their own danger line except on one occasion when a seemingly endless advantage was allowed by the referee, eventually bringing play back to the Burton “22” metre line for a Dudley throw. Burton’s defence held out for what seemed like an eternity and with time fast running out Burton were forced back into their own “22” by a Dudley kick. Will Simpson collected the ball, linked with a couple of team mates before receiving the ball back and breaking through the Dudley defence, then released Grant with an impeccably timed pass to score under the posts. Simpson added the extras and Burton moved into the lead for the first time in the game with very little time left to play. Dudley 24- 27 Burton.

The final few minutes saw possession switch from side to side as Dudley tried to get back in front, but it was Burton who managed to hold out for and invaluable victory which sees them move off the bottom of the league and gives them real hope that this move can be made more permanent over the next few fixtures. A tremendous attacking second half performance backed up by dominant defensive tackling were the key factors in achieving this hard fought win.