Burntwood RUFC didn’t let a week of inactivity bother them as they ran out comfortable winners over Wednesbury.
Their last outing at Uttoxeter was called off at the 11th hour, meaning their preparation was far from idea for this fixture.
The old saying ‘game of two halves’ is a fair reflection on the Burntwood performance with a fairly uneventful first 40 minutes becoming disjointed at times and they never really got out of second gear.
Wednesbury started the brighter side and a loose tap down from a lineout on halfway had the home side back pedalling into their own corner. A resultant scrummange and good work from the home pack worked well and Burntwood cleared the early pressure.
Both sides gave away early penalties and having already decided not to kick two easier looking attempts it was Wednesbury who opened the scoring on 21 minutes from the 10 metre line.
It took Burntwood 25 minutes to really open the visitors up for the first time following a powerful run from new recruit James Ranson who gathered a ball at the back of a lineout and went on the charge. A slick move out to the right touchline with Holt, Rob Jones and Yardley all linking well and a ball back inside to Luke Rookyard who powered his way over the line to score the games first try, which Will Peach converted to make it 7–3.
Straight from the kick off, though, Burntwood gave away a cheap penalty converted well to make the score 7–6.
At this point both sides were infringing and giving away needless penalties on a regular basis and on 31 minutes Peach sweetly slotted a kick.
Two minutes later saw the referee’s patience finally wear out and Wednesbury’s winger Ben Baker received a yellow card. This seemed to inject something into the game. Another Peach penalty and a 13–6 scoreline would have been pleasing going into the break.
But when another burst through by Jones was thwarted on the line, Wednesbury cleared up to half way where Tom Franks was sin binned on his home debut and a penalty resulted to a kick in the corner where the visitors caught the home forwards napping after a decent catch and drive to score an unconverted try.
The first five or six minutes of the second half was pretty much the same as the first half. Both sides had possession which was well defended in midfield and then the game’s third yellow card saw Wednesbury’s Gary Page in the sin bin and Franks back on the park.
The game then came in to life and the home side really started to gather momentum and on 50 minutes home captain Ben Holt finished a slick backs move to increase the lead.
Straight from the kick off Burntwood had a free kick and elected to take a scrum and after good work from John Smith and a backs move from right to left, Brett Taylor cut a great angle to score the third try, which Peach converted to make it 23–11.
Wednesbury countered with a rare second half attack when full back Craig Tilley showed some real speed bursting from halfway only to be thwarted near the line by a last ditch tackle by Gozukucuk.
With the game in full flow and the home pack showing signs of dominance, a scrum controlled well by Smith ended with a try from Rob Jones.
Another break by Rookyard from halfway nearly resulted in a score. Then, with Wednesbury in possession just over the Burntwood ten metre line, Holt reacted sharply to intercept a pass and run to the line unopposed to score another converted try.
With five minutes remaining the home side’s final score of the afternoon was another well worked move with forwards and backs combining well together and a great bit of game management from Peach sucked in the opposition and passed the ball to Rob Jones who finished well in the corner for his brace of tries to make the final score 40–11.
This weekend Burntwood go on the road to play Aston old Edwardians.
