Crofters give Premier leaders a scare

SCUNTHORPE 14 BURTON 12

TRIES on either side of half-time cost Burton a huge upset win away to Midlands Premier leaders Scunthorpe.

After storming to a 12-point lead, the Crofters were pegged back by a converted try just before half-time and what was to prove the decisive score of the contest came shortly after the restart.

High-quality rugby was always difficult on a bitterly cold day and both sides made errors in the early exchanges, with Burton forcing a string of turnovers from a side renowned for their good ball retention.

On one of the rare occasions when the home team did threaten the Burton line, full-back Will Simpson cleared the ball to the halfway line and his side was soon on the attack again.

Simpson made a break to carry the ball almost to the try line. It was recycled and passed out to the left for Saba Svimonishvili to score a try on his debut after 17 minutes but Simpson missed the conversion.

Burton stretched their lead when their forwards pushed into the Scunthorpe half to work the ball to Svimonishvili, who had switched from the wing to fly half.

He sold a dummy to his opposite number, made a break and then passed inside for Simpson to score under the posts.

Simpson took a quick drop kick for the extras to make it 12-0 but that left time for another home attack, even though the game was already in firsthalf added time.

Scunthorpe made the most of their chance, driving into the Burton 22 to set up Dave Garbutt to drive over wide to the right. Paul Cook added the conversion.

That gave the home side the momentum to take into the second half and, with the wind at their backs, they pinned the Crofters in their half. Burton tried to run the ball out of defence rather than kick against the wind but they were under pressure again when they lost the ball against the head at a scrum.

Benn Hyde attacked from the base of the scrum and burst through tackles to score under the posts, five minutes into the second half. Cook added the extras and Scunthorpe had a 14-12 lead.

All the attacking play came from the Greens after that but Burton held on and when Scunthorpe missed a late penalty which would have given them breathing space, there was one last chance for the away side to snatch the win.

They made it to the Scunthorpe 22 but conceded a penalty on the fivemetre line and the full-back was able to clear the ball to touch to end the game, leaving Burton with only a losing bonus point for their brave efforts.