Burton RFC 8 - 23 Sheffield RUFC

Burton RFC 8 - 23 Sheffield RUFC

Team Selection for Saturday 11th January 2020

15 Kai Ramrattan
14 Nick Marshall
13 George Castledine
12 Ben Parker
11 Jamie Flint
10 Will Hodgson
9 Steve Depledge

1 Ben Whitney
2 Angus Hughes
3 Jake Hicklin
4 Alex Fawdry
5 Dave Clayden
6 Tom Womack
7 Matt Adcock
8 Sean Casey
Replacements:-
16 Joe Cooke
17 Jason Hignell
18 Ali Womack

Sheffield travelled to Burton following last weekend’s win at home to Bromsgrove, but without the services of full back Andy Hodgson and then with the late withdrawal of second row Dom Parsons. However, the team saw the return of flanker Jason Hignell and right-wing Nick Marshall from their Christmas break. Kai Ramrattan was selected at full back to show his versatility, and Alex Fawdry made his first start of the league season after being injured in the pre-season match at Sheffield Tigers in late August. Veteran winger Ali Womack came late to join the squad on the bench for the first time this season.

Burton were able to get the early initiative, with some good kicking out of defence, pushing Sheffield back into their own 22-metre, but were penalised for going off their feet at the breakdown. However, the penalty kick failed to find touch and Burton were again able to force Sheffield back into their own territory. Sheffield secured the ball at the line out from which right-wing Nick Marshall was able to pinch a hole through the Burton defence before passing on the centre George Castledine taking play into Burton’s half. Burton were penalised at the breakdown again and Will Hodgson kicked to touch for s lineout inside Burton’s 22-metre zone. Sheffield drove for the Burton try line, but as the ball came free, Burton were judged to have knocked-on in the tackle. Sheffield were soon made aw re of the struggle ahead, as Burton took control of the scrum and were awarded a free kick. However, Burton attempted to run the ball out of defence and in the melee that followed were penalised at the breakdown, again. Sheffield elected to take the kick at goal and Will Hodgson converted to give Sheffield a 3 point to nil lead after eight minutes of play.

Neither team was able to take control of the next period of play as the two teams swapped knock-ons and penalties, but without gaining any dominance. Then the two teams exchanged kicks in and around Burton’s 10-metre line before Sheffield managed to secure a lineout inside Burton’s 22-metre from which flanker Tommy Womack burst free to score to the right of the posts. Will Hodgson converted and the lead was out to 10 points to nil after eighteen minutes. Sheffield would have felt that they had majority control of the match, with the exception of the scrum, where without the bulk of Dom Parsons, they looked unbalanced and Burton were able to give Sheffield a great deal of trouble. However, Sheffield were once again able to secure a line out deep in Burton territory, when once more Burton’s indiscipline led to another penalty, Sheffield lost the ball at the lineout, but Burton knocked-on. Burton stole the ball at the scrum but the clearance kick only gave Sheffield another attacking lineout, from which Sheffield were once more able to mount attack. With centre Ben Parker scoring out on the right. The conversion was missed, but the lead was out to 15 points to nil after twenty-seven minutes.

The issue of the scrum was however, come into the equation as Burton began to turn the screw and were able to set up camp in Sheffield’s 22-metre zone, with Sheffield being penalised at the scrum a number of times. With the crowd screaming for a penalty try we were treated to a slight pantomime when the referee found a pile of dog or fox Pooh on the pitch. Clearance of the said Pooh took nearly eight minutes, but the restart saw much of the same leading to the sin-binning of prop forward, Ben Whitney, but no penalty-try. Joe Cooke came on for Ben Whitney and the scrum was reset again, but Sheffield were able to resist the pressure and Burton had to move the ball away and did so quite smartly to score wide out on the left through left-wing Alex Nesbitt. The conversion was missed but Sheffield still lead by 15 points to 5 after 40 minutes.

From the second half kick-off, Burton looked to push on from their position in the last tern minutes of the first half and Sheffield not fielding the ball at the restart did not aid their cause. Burton were awarded a penalty shortly afterwards and full-back Will Simpson converted to reduce Sheffield’s lead to 8 points to 15 on forty-three minutes. However, from the restart, Sheffield began to take control again and were awarded a penalty in front of the posts, but elected to kick to the corner, which turned out to be a good decision, because two minutes Matt Adcock crashed over for the third try out on the left. The conversion was missed again, but Sheffield led by 20 points to 8 after forty-eight minutes. From this point Sheffield looked to take control and the Yellow card for Burton’s open-side flanker, Dominic Taylor on fifty-one minutes gave penalty kick at goal, converted by Will Hodgson to take the lead out to 23 points to 8. This was followed by yellow cards for Sheffield’s Matt Adcock on fifty-six minutes and Burton’s scrum half, Chaz Bunting on sixty minutes. The disciplinary issues were fully resolved after sixty-five minutes when Burton’s Dominic Taylor got his second yellow card, leading to a technical red card. Sheffield really should have taken the initiative to score the fourth try, but Burton battled hard to prevent it happening and ultimately they wone that particular battle as white line fever took a grip of Sheffield and numerous opportunities went unconverted and we all headed for the bar and took the four points for the win.

Scoring: -