Burntwood 18 Leek 13
Midlands 4 West North

Burntwood stay 3rd in the league table after a hard-earned win at home to Leek. The match also counted as a Staffs Intermediate Cup quarter final tie so there was double delight for the hosts as they now progress to face Tamworth in the semi final.
It was a close run thing as Leek battered the home line in the last 5 minutes but they couldn’t quite find a way through.
The visitors had also enjoyed the better of the opening 10 minutes, pinning the home side in their own 22. No. 8 Craig Goodall was an early casualty for Burntwood, forced off the field with a leg injury to be replaced by Mark Partridge.
Leek went ahead with a penalty after 12 minutes and it was only then that the hosts got into the visitors’ half at the restart, James Langford following up the kick off to good effect.
Craig Seedhouse’s first shot at goal was wide right but a good punt by him kept Burntwood on the attack. Such was the pressure that Leek quickly lost 2 players to the sin bin for diving over on the wrong side. Burntwood capitalised to the tune of 12 points during their absence.
A pushover try was finished off by scrum half Ollie Whitehouse after 21 minutes. Then, as Burntwood exploited the gaps in midfield, Graham Shelley and Matt Bray made ground from a tapped penalty to feed Lloyd Shelley who raced in from the 22 for a try converted by Seedhouse.
With half time approaching, the home side tried to run the ball out of defence but conceded a penalty which Sam Hunt kicked to make it 12-6.
Yet another Leek player received a yellow card right on the break but little advantage was gained because in the first action of the second period Sam Wanty joined him in the bin.
After 47 minutes with Burntwood trying to mount an attack, skipper Shelley popped a pass out of a tackle only to have it intercepted on the Leek 10 metre line. The recipient made it to the posts and an easy conversion took the visitors into a one point lead.
Seedhouse had a long range penalty attempt shortly afterwards which drifted left and then 4 minutes later Lloyd Shelley seemed to have scored following good approach work by Graham Shelley and Matt Sishton but the flanker lost the ball in a goal line tackle.
With nearly an hour gone, Bray set up Wanty for a run to the left corner but the move was brought back for a forward pass.
The game reached the last 10 minutes and having missed penalty and drop goal attempts moments earlier, Seedhouse scraped another drop goal chance over from long range to regain the lead for his side.
A fine clearance kick by Whitehouse after 38 minutes allowed Ian Mapp to take the Leek line out and Seedhouse was on target again with a well-struck drop goal.
With time running out Leek gave it their all with repeated thrusts at the home line. A cracking tackle by Wanty and an important steal by Mark Poole kept the home line safe despite losing Dave Peplow to the sin bin right at the death.

Photos Here

Burntwood 2nds were involved in the proverbial game of two halves away to Leek. An evenly contested first half finished 12-6 in favour of the hosts but the visitors capitulated in the second period and they went down 50-16.
Leek scored 2 tries and a conversion before the break whilst Steve Blockley replied with 2 penalties in a tit-for-tat opening period, Burntwood having been the more ambitious of the 2 sides but having found the home pack difficult to deal with.
Blockley added a 3rd penalty before he was injured. He left the field and with him went a sense of direction for the visitors’ play. As they ran out of steam Leek exploited the widening gaps particularly in the last 20 minutes.
The only consolation for Burntwood was a good try by Dan Smith. He broke off the back of a ruck, went through one opponent and then dummied his way past the last defender to score. Adam Ansell converted.

There were some good performances by the junior sides on Sunday morning. The U16s beat Walsall 29-15 after a good game at The Sportsway.
The U15s were involved in a close game at home to Coalville despite a difference in size of David and Goliath proportions. The visitors edged home 7-0.
The huge Coalville pack battered the home defence for much of the first half but
Burntwood’s sound defence was only breached 6 minutes from the break when the No. 8 smashed his way over for a converted try.
Coalville were tested after the turnaround but the Burntwood wingers couldn’t escape their cover defence. The score remained unaltered to complete a great game played in good spirit.
Man of the match was stand in skipper Joe Blacker who led his side from the front.

The U13s did get the better of their visitors from Coalville. They won 22-5 after a scrappy performance with room for improvement.
The visitors arrived a player short so Ross McWalter volunteered to play for them to even up the numbers. They mounted considerable pressure on the home line for the opening 10 minutes which resulted in a try to take an early lead.
Burntwood got over their sluggish start to build pressure of their own but handling errors let them down until Liam Smith on the left wing and Liam Baker on the right wing both went in for tries.
Oliver Tooth’s strong run carried him over for a try to extend the lead before Smith used his pace to beat the Coalville defence for his 2nd try. Rhys Thomas converted.

Special mention goes to the U12s who posted their first win of the season in defeating Stafford 21-14.
Tries were scored by Jack Harvey, Owen Rookyard and Sean Latham with all 3 converted by Rookyard.

This Saturday Burntwood make the long trip to play basement side Cleobury Mortimer. The Development XV are away to Stafford 3rds (Merit), the 3rds are away to Wednesbury 2nds (Merit), the Veterans are home to Stafford and the colts have a league game at home to Tamworth.
On Sunday morning the U16s host Rugeley.