Newcastle (Staffs) 7 Burntwood 7
Midlands 4 West North
Burntwood’s only blemish in their recent league record was a home defeat
to Newcastle seven weeks ago. They had chances to turn the tables on
their North Staffs opponents but didn’t take them and so had to be
satisfied with a share of the spoils.
Even so, the draw in this re-arranged game confirms Graham Shelley’s
side in 5th place in the table with 7 league games to go.
The match itself was an ill-tempered affair despite the referee sending
a flanker from each side to the sin bin as early as the first minute!
Burntwood had the better of the contest but having reached the break at
7-7 they couldn’t add to their tally in a scoreless second period.
Newcastle’s try came against the run of play. A Burntwood kick into the
home half was fielded by their winger who had acres of space to run
into. When he was chased down he managed to offload to a supporting
player who scored near the posts for a converted try.
Burntwood 1st XV Skipper Graham Shelley
The visitors levelled with a fine try. From line-out possession, the
ball was moved down the backs to Rob England. He broke a tackle before
feeding full back Eddie Saunders who scored. Craig Seedhouse added the
conversion.
Seedhouse went on to have 3 kicks at goal, 2 in the second half, but
they didn’t find the target. The nearest they came to scoring a try was
a disallowed effort by winger Sam Wanty following quick ball off phased
possession – the referee deeming he had been held up.
The plus points for Burntwood were a good performance by the pack with
Mark Partridge and the Shelley brothers leading from the front, whilst
Matt Bray impressed in the centre. They also did well to deny Newcastle
any real scoring efforts of their own throughout the game.
Burntwood 2nds
were also on top in their game away to
Handsworth 2nds but they managed to underline it with 3 converted tries
to win 21-0.
They had started the game the better of the 2 sides courtesy of their
forwards and could have been ahead as early as the 10th minutes but Ross
Beaman’s effort was disallowed.
However, from the ensuing line out the ball was moved down the backs for
winger Chris Brooks to score and Martin Ottey to convert.
The forwards’ dominance of the rest of the half should have led to 2
more tries but the final passes failed to stick. They slipped off the
pace in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, allowing Handsworth
back into the game in terms of possession and territory but they came
back to life before it proved costly.
Scrum half Anthony Cadman tapped a penalty to lock Nathan Tromans who
made good ground. The ball was moved wide and Beaman set up Jimmy Davies
for the try, converted by Ottey.
From the restart Beaman put his side back on the attack. He fed Ian Mapp,
who had come on as replacement for the injured Dave Peplow, and the tall
flanker made 30 metres. Again, Beaman received possession and he put
Davies over for his second try, improved by Ottey’s kick.
The
performance of the forwards, with Darren Brindley and Simon Edwards
impressive, was the foundation for the win whilst Beaman controlled
affairs well from stand off.
Simon Edwards impressed
The 3rds were
the second Burntwood side on the day to finish level with their
opponents and just like the 1sts they felt they should have won instead
of drawing 10-10 at home to Old Saltleians 3rds.
The visitors opened the scoring with a try but Dave Tyler put skipper
Phil Powell in for an equalising try from close range and then Tyler
himself broke from a ruck to give his side a 10-5 half time lead.
Despite Burntwood having several chances to seal the game they couldn’t
improve on their lead and Old Salts took their opportunity to bring the
scores tied with their 2nd try.
3rd XV Captain Phil Powell
