Burntwood 14 Bournville 32
Midlands 4 West North
Burntwood turned in another creditable performance, this time against
high-flying Bournville at The Sportsway last Saturday. They pushed the
league’s second placed side all the way in a keenly fought contest.
The difference between the sides was that whenever Burntwood made a
mistake, and there weren’t many, Bournville showed their class to take
advantage, scoring 4 of their 5 tries through errors by the home side.
The
game set off at a frantic pace with both sides enjoying the firm pitch,
ideal for open rugby. The first scoring opportunity went to the visitors
when their No. 8 broke down the middle from a scrum into the home 22. A
superb tap tackle by winger Chris Smith prevented the try.
Two minutes later the visitors’ confidence got the better of them when
they went for a tapped penalty 5 metres out only to fluff the tap.
However, it needed tough defence by Burntwood to keep their line intact
for the opening quarter. Eventually, handling on the floor gave an easy
penalty award for the Bournville kicker to open the scoring.
A good response by the home side took play into the visitors’ 22. They
won a free kick which they ran right then left but Lloyd Shelley was
stopped in his tracks by a thumping tackle.
When Bournville tried to run out of defence they only succeeded in
giving away a penalty which Craig Seedhouse converted with a fine kick
to bring the scores level after 26 minutes.
Burntwood were having their fair share of possession and territory but a
loose kick across field was seized on by the full back and 2 passes
later Bournville were over Burntwood’s try line from half way with 31
minutes gone.
Back came Burntwood to force play into the visitors’ 22. They had a
scrum and then a penalty which Mark Partridge tried to drive over. He
was halted but the ball came back for Seedhouse to slot a neatly taken
drop goal to make it 6-8 at half time.
A good start by Burntwood to the second half was ended when they turned
the ball over and the Birmingham side exploited the blind side to score
in the corner.
Partridge went through on a loose tap from a line-out to take play up to
the visitors’ 10 metre zone. A Bournville flanker resorted to killing
the ball in front of the posts which allowed Seedhouse to kick his 2nd
penalty and keep his side in the hunt for a surprise win.
However, just 3 minutes later, the Bournville backs combined at speed to
score the best try of the game.
With an hour gone, and Dave Peplow on for the impressive Tom Restall, a
super tackle denied the visitors’ scrum half in the corner.
Unfortunately, the good work was undone when the ensuing line-out throw
went straight to a Bournville forward who crossed for the first
converted try of the afternoon.
Seedhouse’s penalty attempt 4 minutes later was wide but fumbled by a
defender to give Burntwood a scrum 5. Partridge went close but after a
re-scrum the chance was disrupted and cleared.
Bournville’s final try came when a strong running centre broke a tackle
in midfield and went in for the score which was converted.
Burntwood were determined to score a try of their own and after
excellent ball retention by the pack, Matt Watkins finally squeezed over
in the last minute to bring a little more respectability to the
scoreline.
Burntwood 3rds
fielded an under-strength side at home to Wolverhampton 3rds and this
proved decisive to the outcome as they lost out 28-5.
James Langford opened the scoring for the home side who competed well
throughout but W’ton exploited the overlap to be ahead 10-5 at the break
and then pull away in the second period.
Langford, Mark Fisher and Chris Preston, making his first appearance
back for some time, were the pick of the Burntwood side.
