This week felt a little like "After the Lord Mayors Show " following the superb victory over Bloxwich , but Stoke away is always a challenging place to go and they like us have improved massively this season and were placed 3rd in the league going into this game. Looking back both teams were playing each other in the Staffs Merit League 2 for a few seasons before both joining the RFU League structure at the same time so progress for both teams is testament to what and how both clubs are now structured .

We were a far different team this week from last as all our senior players were indulging or over indulging at the past players lunch at the
club !! This though bought the average age down significantly as we only had 2 players who were over 30 the other 17 average age of just 21 with our front row about half the age of their direct opponents .

We received the kick off and went on the offensive straight away with some slick passing in the backs and strong carries from the forwards the ball getting turned over though which allowed Stoke to show the pace in their back line especially the 10 and 15 who would cause us problems all game . The first 15 minutes was balanced between to evenly matched sides and it took a piece of opportunism from scrum half Joe Ensor who took a quick tap and go to race through the retreating defence to score under the posts , the extras added by Kizza on 16 minutes .

Score Stoke 0-7 Burton

The next 15 minutes followed a similar pattern but we were giving away far to many silly penalties mainly for being offside and a few high tackles, this gave the Stoke lads some momentum and did see them gain the ascendancy in the scrums , as our young front row learnt a few lessons about the dark arts from there more experienced opponents, credit where credit due though our lads worked it out and soon these exchanges were far more balanced . On 30 minutes we produced our best move of the game when quick ruck ball saw the ball go through a number of sets of hands and into OJo's who outstripped the would be tacklers and crashed under the posts , he was gutted that despite Stoke having 2 professional photographers on duty both somehow missed his try !! ...extras added again.

Score Stoke 0-14 Burton

With half time approaching we were happy to take this lead into the 2nd half and give us something to defend , unfortunately we gave away yet another penalty in our 22 which saw the Stoke lads score in the corner as the clock turned red , conversion missed .

Half Time Stoke 5-14 Burton

We made just one change at half time with Josh BB having a breather after his first game of the season which saw Stoney go into the 2nd row and Connor Bassett on in the back row . Stoke now though had their tails up and kicking downhill and were causing us problems with both the 10 and 15 proving hard to stop beating the first and second defender constantly and no surprise after 9 minutes of the second half when their 15 went through again and scored in the corner again the conversion from another tight angle missed .

Score Stoke 10-14 Burton

The game was now becoming tense as Stoke pushed on again , our cause not helped when Joe picked up and knock and had to come off which caused a reshuffle with Mitch going to 9 and Ethan on the wing . The pattern of play remained the same with us spending little time in our opponents half , then after 15 minutes the Stoke center sped through our defence to score under the posts this time though the extras added to give Stoke the lead for the first time in the game .

Score Stoke 17-14 Burton

This was new territory for us and would be a real test for such a young side but with some strong words from the captain we regrouped and dragged ourselves back into it , showing grit and determination to take something from this game. We made the last couple of change's with OJo coming off with a slight strain ( not his cheese string hammy ) replaced by Fin and Brad joining the fray on on the wing .
Our penalty count had improved in the second period but we did give one away , a good distance out mind but in front of the posts and TBH most expected the 10 to slot it but luckily for us he pushed it wide.... so game on with just 10 minutes to go and just 3 points in it .
This saw some great carry's from CHW, Yigit and Finn .... Stoke now on the defensive and they started to give away penalties at the breakdown , Kizza kicking to touch a formality or so we thought , he had other ideas though and thought he would test the strength of both mine and Danny's heart and send us a little greyer missing 2 and then sending one grubber that just made touch :) Kizza though came into his own with just 5 minutes left driving the forwards through phase after phase 5 meters out and from one of these pick and go's he showed to pass spun and crashed over to give us the lead back .

Score Stoke 17-19 Burton

The last few minute's were tense with both sides going hammer and tongs at each other , we prevailed though and took the win to remain top of the league and stretch the lead over one if not our biggest challengers .

In summary what a great game played in great spirits by two evenly matched sides .

MOM was awarded to Mitch who played in a number of positions .

DOD was awarded to Yigit for his tap and go ...in his defence he has been out for a while so wasn't fully up to date with the rules .

Next week away again for our rearranged game v Erdington .