BURNTWOOD completed the double over Shrewsbury with a 69-26 to further consolidate their second place position in the league.
Luke Rookyard took the individual honours with four tries and two assists, although Brett Taylor was also in the frame as he contributed a personal haul of 24 points.
Josh Canning’s side made a fast start to the game and didn’t let up throughout the contest. Lineout possession in the home 22 led to a ruck and Rookyard exploited a gap down the blind side for his first try. Taylor’s fine conversion made it 7-0 in just the second minute.
Good work by Aidan Barker from the restart eventually led to a penalty award 27 metres out and Taylor duly obliged with the kick at goal.
It was 17-0 on 11 minutes following a sweeping attack from their own half which ended with Rookyard’s second and another Taylor conversion from wide right.
Shrewsbury responded with a converted try when the scrum half broke from a scrum on the visitors’ 22 to beat two defenders and score under the posts.
A good response, led by Hal Gozukucuk, saw Reece Elliot go close. However, the ensuing scrum was stolen by Burntwood which allowed Taylor to dummy his way over to score and convert so it was 24-7 with less than 20 minutes played.
The frenetic nature of the game continued for the next 15 minutes as both sides attacked and counter-attacked, but it was not until close to the break that the next score arrived and it was the bonus point try for Burntwood. Playing under penalty advantage, Gozukucuk straightened up the line of attack to pave the way for Ian Jones to score. Taylor’s conversion made it 31-7 at the turnaround.
The hosts needed an early score in the second period to get back in the game but they were held up on the line and Burntwood broke away via Barker, Dan Clements and Billy Fisher up to halfway. A scrum penalty followed and from the lineout in the home 22, Gozukucuk drove in midfield and when the ball was moved back right, Rookyard broke a tackle and fed Tom Shorrock inside for an unconverted try.
Shrewsbury hit back with a try from powerful close range drives prior to another sweeping attack by the visitors. Fisher’s solid tackle in his own 22 turned possession over. Ben Finney made ground before possession was moved wide to Josh Massey who was making a welcome return to action. He fended off a tackle to run down the wing and round behind the posts for Taylor to convert.
The visitors kept up the pressure in the home 22 and were finally rewarded on the hour mark when Rookyard completed his hat-trick by tapping a five metre penalty and barrelling over the line. Taylor’s conversion notched the half century.
Five minutes later, Rookyard turned provider again. Elliot’s midfield drive had the home defence on the back foot before a long pass saw Canning and Rookyard linking down the right flank and an inside pass to Shorrock who dotted down.
With ten minutes left, Shrewsbury launched a determined attack which earned them a converted try from strong, direct running at the line.
However, this was shortly followed by a yellow card for a high tackle on Massey on the home 22. Clements won the ensuing lineout and Rookyard stretched over from the ruck for his fourth try. Taylor added another fine conversion from the touchline.
With normal time up, Shrewsbury achieved a bonus point try. They had looked dangerous when close to the try line and so it proved again, crossing in the left corner for a score which was excellently converted.
There was still time for the visitors to have the final say. Clements turned home possession over and swift handling out to Massey saw him away down the touchline to score his second without the need of a two man overlap. Taylor’s touchline conversion ended a very satisfactory afternoon for his side.
On a good afternoon for the club, Burntwood 2nds ended a four match losing streak by defeating Telford Hornets 2nds by 37-3 at the RCI Sportsway.
