Another Tough Away Day

The hosts were soon on the front foot and able to open the scoring on the left touchline but couldn’t add the extras. Play then moved between the 10m lines for a while before Lewis Brooks broke to the opposition 22. Burton then lost the ball, but Bromsgrove knocked on and Burton attacked on the right. Alfie Grant got close to the line before passing inside to Full Back Kieran Jackson who dotted down for the first time in a 1st XV shirt. Chaz Bunting converted superbly to give Burton the lead. Tristan De Jager thwarted a Bromsgrove break with an excellent tackle and Jack Barry Neale was on hand to earn a penalty at the breakdown. Burton were now playing with increased energy and confidence, coming close from a driving maul and again soon afterwards before Bunting kicked a penalty.

The purple patch continued with James Davies making a surging run then finding Cal Donnelly on his shoulder to take the ball to the 22, but the moved ended with a knock on. Pressure from Bunting forced the home No. 8 to knock on and from the ensuing scrum Burton gained a penalty which Bunting sent between the uprights.

Lewis Sturgess was in the thick of things as always, before leaving the field for a blood injury being replaced by debutant Rob Jones. Bromsgrove kicked a penalty to the corner and 3 phases after the lineout their impressive No. 12 crashed over under the posts. The conversion reduced Burton’s lead to a solitary point.

Davies was finding Donnelly and Llyr Griffiths very effectively and the lineouts and from a Griffiths take Burton attacked to the 22 and earned a penalty. The kick slipped past the post. The home side then launched a sweeping move finished in left-hand corner and followed by an excellent conversion.

Moments before the break Jack Barry Neale injured his mid-riff and Jones replace him. The score line was 19-13.
Bromsgrove has a spell of possession but Burton were containing them on half way until leaving too few defenders on their right of a breakdown which Bromsgrove spotted and exploited to score an unconverted try.

Will Hopwood at 6 made a turnover but Burton gave away a penalty and then missed tackles before conceding. The kick hit the post. Burton bounced back and from a driving maul Davies burst clear to score and Bunting slotted the kick to make it 31-20. Bromsgrove showed why they would finish the day top of the table with two tries in quick succession followed by a kick to benefit from the new 50-22 law to heap more pressure on the now beleaguered Burton. However, the visitors turned the ball over and played from their own line releasing De Jager for an outside break and chip into touch at the opposition 22. This time Bromsgrove couldn’t clear their lines and after some good pressure Fly Half Harry Titley ghosted through the score. Bunting drop kicked the conversion successfully to make it 27-43.

Bromsgrove went into another spell of dominance, aided by Burton missing tackles, to score twice and extend their tally to 57. To their credit Burton ended the game pushing for bonus point try but sadly this evaded them and the score was 57-27 at the close.

Burton remains 12th in the table; however they have played the top 5 teams in 6 games, so have chance to create some momentum in the coming weeks against teams near to them the league. There is a rest week next week before Syston visit Battlestead Croft on the 23rd.

Report by Ian Catwright