Bromsgrove RFC 23
Burton 15


BROMSGROVE RFC made it three wins on the bounce in Midlands Two West against a strong and experienced Burton side at Finstall Park.

In perfect conditions and with a good crowd, it was Burton who started well.

They stole sloppy ball at the back of Bromsgrove’s scrum and spread it wide for their winger to score an unconverted try. Bromsgrove then started to exert pressure. Eventually Burton were penalised after a scrum in their own 22.

Ben Copson slotted away the kick to peg the score back to 5-3.

The Boars’ pack faced their toughest test of the season so far.

The competition in both the set piece and the loose was formidable.

Burton’s pack soon demonstrated their power when they secured clean ball at the back of a lineout 10 yards out and then proceeded to drive over the maul with relative ease. Again the conversion was missed.

Town then countered with a combative 10 minutes where they broke out of their own half and, after several phases of play, managed to set up an attacking lineout on Burton’s 22.

After several phases from the lineout, Burton were penalised and Copson reduced the lead to 10-6.

From a poor Burton restart, the Boars had a scrum in the centre of the park.

A well-rehearsed move saw Lee Ward breaking right and firing a mispass to Duncan Roke, who broke through the defence and ran deep into Burton’s half before offloading to Richard Stockholm who scored under the posts.

Copson converted to take the Boars into a 13 -10 lead.

Bromsgrove had the edge for the remainder of the first half and should have added another try just before half time.

However, desperate defence combined with some aimless passing prevented the score.

The second half saw Burton fight back.

From a line out, Burton spread the attack wide and the centre broke through to score a try.

Again the conversion was missed and the Boars now trailed 15-13.

To add to Bromsgrove’s woes, number eight Nigel Burrows was sin binned and this led to a 10 minute period where the home side had to battle hard to not concede.

The game appeared to be slipping away from Town and it was only when a poor kick from Burton led to a counter attack from inside Bromsgrove’s half.

The half break from Roke was fed to Richard Stockholm who sped down the right wing only to be stopped 10 yards short of the tryline.

A risky pass paid dividends when blindside Drew Harper was able to cling on an score a vital try.

At 18-15, the crowd sensed that Bromsgrove may have done enough.

However, when Duncan Roke again broke from within his own half, he fed to Dan Ingram who in turn passed to Tom Soloman.

Soloman was stopped short of the line but Ingram was following up and drove the ball over the tryline seal victory.

Bromsgrove’s seconds suffered a 13-8 defeat at the hands of Malvern.

The thirds drew 24-24 with Kidderminster, while the fourths earned an impressive 38-0 success over Edwardians.

There was also a win for Bromsgrove Crusaders, who edged out Luctonians thirds 46-43.


Baxter: Boars can entertain

Bromsgrove v Burton picture special