Tempers flare as Burbage win big

BURBAGE stormed out of the blocks to gain a bonus point win in a feisty encounter, writes Adam Jardine.

Vice-captain Julian Parrin stepped up to lead the side in the absence of captain Darren Brink.

Parrin lead his side excellently throughout the game, making some fantastic cover tackles at fullback and opening the scoring for Burbage, with a strong finish.

Parrin looked to have been stopped short by two Tenbury players, but reached out to put the ball just over the line, try converted by Eggington.

Scrum half Tom Cox was a constant thorn in the side of the Tenbury defence, making numerous breaks and putting Burbage on the front foot time and again.

Burbage were physical from the first minute and didn’t allow the home side to gain any momentum in the first half.

Some huge hits were flying in, from Ashley Alexander, Sean Frith, Ben Murphy and Andrew Morley, to name a few.

Harry Bowler was next to cross the whitewash, with a strong backline outside him, Bowler threw a huge dummy and glided in under the posts untouched. Converted by Eggington.

Burbage were fantastic over the ball, with Lawrence Cook, Andrew Eggington and Adam Jardine all getting brilliant turnovers in key areas of the pitch to relieve pressure on their defence, which took everything that Tenbury threw.

Blindside flanker Kieran O’Hara then got over the line for his second try in two weeks.

O’Hara ran an excellent support line and raced in for the score. Converted by Eggington.

Ashley Alexander was then sent to the sin bin for a dubious “hands in the ruck” offence, which was in the red zone. While Alexander was in the bin, Burbage again kept control of the game.

Centres Ben Murphy and Will Ladbury combined excellently in their first start together, making inroads into the Tenbury defence at every opportunity.

Ladbury then secured the bonus point for Burbage. Tenbury attempted to run the ball out of their 22, with the fly half spinning the ball wide. Ladbury read this like a book, stepped out of the line to pluck the ball out of the air and race away for an interception try under the posts. Try converted by Eggington.

Adam Groocock and Nick Burt entered the fray, both putting some massive hits in.

Groocock was a menace from the moment he entered the game, with some eye watering, shuddering tackles.

Second row Jardine then scored Burbage’s last try of the game. Prop Sean Frith went on a trademark booming run, offloading expertly to the supporting Jardine. Jardine rounded the fullback to score. Try converted by Egginton for a 100% conversion rate.

The discipline started to go downhill in the game.

Burbage’s Alexander and Jardine combined to tackle the light footed Tenbury fly half, with the referee harshly judging Alexander to have used a swinging arm.

Alexander was shown his second yellow card, resulting in a red.

Hooker Craig Lakin was then judged to have tackled high, quite a hard thing to do for a man of his stature, and was sent for a 10-minute rest in the sin bin, which saw Burbage go down to 13 men.

Again, the defence stood up well, with Groocock and Burt putting some big hits in the tight and Murphy chopping anything that came through the centres.

Tenbury themselves had two players sent to the sin bin early in the second half.

There was then a fracas in the Burbage 22.

A number of players were involved from both sides, but the referee only judged one player worthy of a card.

Burbage second row Adam Jardine was given a straight red card for his involvement in the incident.

Tenbury then gained control of the game.

Running at Burbage’s 12 men, then 13 men, with pace and power saw them score under the posts to take the game to 10 – 35.

The Burbage defence worked tirelessly, with Zak Fullarton putting in some great cover hits.

A fantastic away win for Burbage, who worked tirelessly throughout the game.

Next up is a home game against Bedworth RFC, who recorded a 92-7 victory over Birmingham Civil Service RFC.

The MOM award, a tough call to make, was given to Ben Murphy.

On his league debut, Murphy was a thorn in Tenbury’s side with ball in hand and a menace in defence, chopping everything coming through the centres.

Coach Jimmy Samuel said: “What a game, this game has to go down as one of the finest I’ve seen the team play.

“An excellent example of attacking play in the first half and a fine specimen of defence under pressure in the second.

“Overall a fantastic game played as a team.

“Some standout performances but overall, a 20 man game played a single unit”