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# Burntwood battle for bonus points in Old Saltleians defeat
- URL: https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/burntwood-battle-for-bonus-points-in-old-saltleians-defeat/
- Published: 2023-11-28T07:59:00.000Z
- Updated: 2023-11-27T18:41:30.000Z
- Description: Burntwood rescued two bonus points in a rousing fightback against in-form Old Saltleians at the CCE Sportsway despite losing 33-26.
- Author: Rob Forsyth
- Tags: Sport, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-07-22 18:58

Burntwood rescued two bonus points in a rousing fightback against in-form Old Saltleians at the CCE Sportsway despite losing 33-26.

The visitors, with only one defeat on their record this season, clinically took three scoring opportunities to go 21-0 up after just 26 minutes and it looked like a damage limitation exercise for the hosts.

However, the home side brought the deficit back to 21-12 by the break and were pressing to level the scores at the end.

Josh Canning’s side went behind in the second minute when they lost their own put-in at a scrum. Possession was swiftly moved wide right and the scorer raced round behind the posts to provide an easy conversion.

Ten minutes later and they were in again although the ball seemed to travel forward in a midfield fumble but there was no whistle. A missed tackle allowed the scorer to run round behind the posts again for a converted try.

Burntwood began to make headway against a solid, well-organised outfit assisted by penalty awards and then a succession of yellow cards for the visitors, three in total in the first half. The number ten was the first to go, but a series of tap and goes ended with Hal Gozukucuk spilling the ball with the line at his mercy.

Despite a good share of possession, the Old Salts’ defence was proving impenetrable. Burntwood then had to use two replacements as Josh Shepherd and Tom Shorrock left the field replaced by Sion Edwards and Alan Mapp respectively. 

The visitors went through the phases to make it 21-0 but just as one player came back from the sin bin they lost another for a high tackle on Josh Massey and their No. 6 followed shortly afterwards.

With a two man advantage, Burntwood mounted a series of close range drives before moving the ball out to Elliot Woolley to score in the left corner close to half time. Woolley then made an important contribution in defence to disrupt an Old Salts attack before his side broke away to score again. 

Edwards and Kian Carter combined to take play into the opposition half. When Carter was obstructed, Ben Holt kicked for the left corner to set up repeated drives for the line. A sliced clearance kick kept the pressure on and this time Gozukucuk made no mistake, bursting through a gap to score unopposed under the posts. Brett Taylor converted.

With numbers fully restored, Old Salts had their try bonus point two minutes into the second period following a close range maul. They completed their tally six minutes later, heaving Burntwood off their own scrum for their back division to link neatly for a try wide out plus a fine conversion to make it 33-12.

Burntwood reduced the arrears on 54 minutes. Gozukucuk and Woolley made ground into the Old Salts 22 to earn a free kick which became a full penalty award. The forwards tied the defence in prior to Holt firing a pass to Carter who hit the line perfectly for a try converted by Taylor.

On the hour mark Carter made it a try double. Continued pressure and penalty awards kept the visitors deep in their own 22\. Ethan Turner was held up close to the line before the ball was moved out to Carter who cut inside and bounced his way over the line for the try bonus point. Taylor landed a good conversion kick from wide out.

Going into the last ten minutes, the momentum was with Burntwood but strong defence and a couple of errors denied further reward. Old Salts kicked for goal from a penalty award on 76 minutes but the attempt slid left of the posts leaving Burntwood with the possibility of levelling the scores in the time remaining but it was not to be. 

Burntwood 3rds enjoyed their trip away day to Newcastle 4ths for a club game despite coming second best on the pitch whilst a depleted Colts’ squad made the long trip to league leaders Upton-on-Severn and went down 50-3.

This weekend Burntwood’s senior sides complete the first half of their league seasons with the 1sts away to Kidderminster while the 2nds welcome Essington to the CCE Sportsway – both games kick off at 2.15pm on Saturday (2nd December).