Rusty performance but a well fought win.

It was evident straight from the kick off that Aylestone Athletics 1st XV had enjoyed their Christmas break a little too much with the majority of the team looking like they'd come straight from Fat Camp day release. A three week break can galvanise some teams or make a team seize up, in this case it was the latter and Burbage were 5-0 up within the first 5 minutes after winning a penalty, kicking for the corner and barrelling over.

As per, conceding an early try forced the Ath to quickly switch on and they soon equalised from quick recycled ball putting Harry Cooper clean through down the wing to run in under the posts, converted. The draw was short lived and the Ath were immediately on the back foot once more, from sustained pressure Burbage eventually crossed from a well worked move to put their bulldozing 12 in under the posts, converted.

At this point the Ath decided to start following their game plan by keeping it simple, playing the phases and holding on to the ball. After several quick penalties the Ath found themselves on the Burbage tryline. The ball was quickly recycled and Matt Gunnell was able to go over in the corner, unconverted.

Half time 12-12

The second half was played in a similar manner to the first; tough well fought breakdowns, frantic play and continuous counter attacks. There were several times in the second half where Burbage could have and maybe should have scored but the Ath managed to keep them out. With Burbage tiring the Ath were able to capitalise with debutante Tom Clay running in from 20 meters from a great offload from Darryl Davison, converted. The final try, in similar fashion was another breakaway counter attack. The Ath managed to turn the ball over in midfield and a quick switch of play saw Harry Cooper run in for his second.

Full time 24-12

Well played Burbage, they never gave up and probably deserved more points. This was a cagey performance from the Ath and they showed good character to grind out a win in a game they could have quite easily lost. MOM was Tom Clay, played 30 mins at outside centre scored a cracking try on his debut. DOD was Ben for assaulting a ruck post seeing a team Mate get punched. 'Hero is an understatement'.