Crofters’ flying start is too much for Lichfield
BURTON returned to winning ways in style in Regional 1 Midlands, cruising to a 47-19 victory against county rivals Lichfield.
The Crofters had the try bonus point in the bag by half-time as they built a 32-0 lead and there was no way back for the visitors.
It ended a three-game losing streak for the firsts and was part of a successful weekend for the whole club.
On Friday night, Burton’s A team celebrated a 10-7 away win against Ashby in Counties 1 Midlands East (North), while the B team claimed a 54-17 home win against Linley in Counties 4 Midlands West (North) on Saturday.
“The As got the ball rolling on Friday night with a really hard-fought win against Ashby,” said head coach Harry Titley.
“The first team went to support the A team on Friday night and the As then came to support the firsts on Saturday, which was great to see. And the B team won as well, so it felt like it was a real club effort this weekend.
“The plaudits need to go to all three teams really.”
There were only two minutes on the clock against Lichfield when Chaz Bunting went over for the first of his two tries, although Will Simpson’s conversion attempt fell short.
Simpson did kick a penalty to make it 8-0 before ending a fine team move by touching down just to the left of the posts and then adding the extras for a 15-0 lead.
Henry Knox then fed Alex Nesbitt for a converted try in the 15th minute and the bonus point was claimed when Jamie Dutton pounced on a loose ball and sprinted clear to score under the posts, Simpson converting.
Simpson kicked a superb penalty into the wind to give Burton a 32-0 half-time lead.
Lewis Sturgess was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle but, despite being a man down, Burton scored again when Bunting touched down on the left, although the extras were missed.
Lichfield got on the scoreboard with an unconverted try before Jack Ingram touched down for the Crofters. The extras were off target again.
The visitors scored two converted tries but the Crofters wrapped up the scoring when Will Derry scored an unconverted try.
“We set the tone nice and early, right from the first kick-off,” added Titley.
“We received the ball and carried hard, we were really aggressive in the clear-outs at the rucks which meant we had quick ball for our nine to play out.
“We had talked about that in the week before the game, about trying to be a bit more aggressive at the breakdown and generating quick ball.
“In the first 20 minutes or so we had plenty of space and were running in tries, it was really pleasing.
“We just played rugby, we treated it like any other game and didn’t get carried away by playing against a local rival.
“We played how we wanted to play and stuck to our game-plan.”