Another narrow defeat leaves Burntwood firmly in the bottom two at the halfway point of the league season.
Even the losing bonus point counted for little with all the other sides bar Shrewsbury picking up at least one league point on the day.
There was little for the spectators to get excited about in a penalty-strewn contest played in deteriorating weather conditions but Tamworth earned the win with two second half tries.
Possession was fairly even early on although much of the first quarter was played in the home half. The scrum looked in good order but Burntwood lost prop Dave Peplow with a shoulder injury with just 13 minutes gone. Craig Prosser replaced him.
It was in the 25th minute that the hosts finally got the ball into the Tamworth 22. The visitors’ defence fumbled but the ensuing scrum was disrupted and the danger cleared.
Eight minutes later the visitors conceded a penalty and an extra 10 metres. When they infringed again, Ben Holt opened the scoring with a well-struck penalty goal from 30 metres.
This proved to be the only score of the half with little rugby of note by either side.
Tamworth bolstered their pack with the introduction of veteran prop Jez Sandhu during the break and they went on to dominate the set pieces.
The hosts were pinned in the bottom corner soon after the restart. With six minutes gone, they worked the blind side of a scrum to take the lead with their first try.
On the hour mark the visitors had a penalty attempt at goal but the kick sailed left of the posts. Four minutes later Burntwood were dealt another blow when influential skipper Graham Shelley was forced off the pitch with a back injury. Ollie Whitehouse replaced him.
Going into the last ten minutes Tamworth forced a series of scrums in the bottom corner. They went for the pushover try on several occasions but on the first they knocked on. Then a tackle by Luke Briggs knocked the ball loose and then they were whistled for wheeling the scrum.
However, the pressure eventually told with two minutes of normal time left. From yet another close range scrum, this time they did get the ball over the line for the final score.
In stoppage time the Tamworth No. 4 was sin binned and Burntwood launched one last attempt to share the spoils. They attacked through centre field to force a scrum and then earn a penalty. The move was ended with a big tackle from a Tamworth centre and the win was theirs.
Burntwood’s next league game is at home to basement side Shrewsbury on January 7.
