B's v St Leonards

The boys travelled to Stafford for the rearranged game against a tough St Leonard's side who we hadn't managed to beat in previous encounters , we took a strong 20 with returnees Callum Stoakes at Prop, his first game in 11 weeks and OJO back from injury looking his usual cheerful self :).
Stoney won the toss and elected to kick down the slope with the low sun at our backs so imperative we got off to a quick start and put some points on the board , the lads didn't fail him and after 3 minutes OJO went over in the corner for our first try , the extras missed .
Score B's 5 - 0 St Leonard's
The next 15 minutes were pretty even with both sides carrying strongly , interrupted by a constant stream of penalties for infringements at the breakdown, it was from one of these penalty's that saw Harry kick deep into the St Leonard's 22 and from the resultant line out we caught and drove towards the line which saw the Captain touch down from the back of the maul .The extras missed in what was a tough day for Harry off the tee in his defence the ground was very uneven and boggy which made planting the foot tricky .
Score B's 10 - 0 St Leonard's
St Leonard's tactics were simple with big carry's from the forwards especially their No 6 who eventually got there first score of the day, extras missed .
Score B's 10 - 5 St Leonard's
The remainder of the first half was an even encounter with the B's using the slope to our advantage but the conditions underfoot made free flowing rugby difficult so not a great surprise that after a series of scrums , and pick and goes saw Call Stoakes pick up from a ruck and then show a neat sidestep before touching down near the posts , extras this time added .
Score B's 17 - 5 St Leonard's
We urged the lads on with half time approaching to get another score on the board as we felt this would be needed with the St Leonard's lads having home advantage and the slope in their favour in the second half , B's didn't disappoint and not sure how but scrum half Joe Ensor touched down with at least 3 defenders and 3 of the Burton pack helping him over the line .
Half Time B's 22 - 5 St Leonard's

It was backs to the wall for the majority of the second half but our lads defended resolutely , decisions now started to go against us and we seemed to lose the ref a little , from a scrum penalty inside our half some back chat from prop Ralph saw us marched a further 10 metres, the St Leonard's lads took and quick tap which saw the big 6 crash over for another score extras added this time .
Score B's 22 - 12 St Leonard's
This score seemed to fire us up a little and with the introduction of our bench and fresh legs we got into the game again and more importantly their 22 , infringement's again coming into play at the breakdown saw us kick to touch missing on a couple of occasions but then regaining possession finding touch to then miss the jumper ....sanity prevailed though when awarded another penalty this time within range the decision was made to take the 3 points and stretch the lead to 13 points and two scores . This proved to be a wise decision as the St Leonard's lads did score again but crucially missed the conversion which meant they still needed two scores to win .This remained the score whistle .
Final Score B's 25 - 17 St Leonard's

In summary a really competive game conditions did play a part but that's rugby that saw two evenly matched sides play and enjoy a great game .