Sat 26 Oct 2019, 11:00
Sunday found the 16’s away to Burntwood
A slopey pitch and the wind going down the hill and captain Loui Whitmore decides to go against the elements for the first half.
Looking after the ball and taking the opportunities would be the key in a tense first 35
The game began with B’s kicking off and a fumble from Barkers
From the resultant scrum , which due to unavailability for Burntwood were passive, the 8 picks and goes but only to be stopped and driven back by Ben Edwards the Butts 8
Followed by Alfie Griffin driving the next attacker back
This set out the defensive pattern for the half where all the players contributed to a massive effort
Burntwood were stopped in their tracks but it wasn’t all one way and Barkers had their moments too then on 15 mins from a penalty award Max R taking the ball quick passing to Luke who then set Callum Lloyd free who faced with 3 defenders sent them the wrong way and dived over to score
0-5
The game ebbed and flowed but on 22mins Burntwood got on the score sheet thanks to some sustained pressure
7-5
Then came Sam Mikhael into his own , released from defensive duties and hall in hand , starting from deep in his own half rounding and bouncing defenders it was only a slip that denied him a try but B’s scrambled the call into touch , the line out not cleanly taken but with the ball bouncing up into Alfie’s hands he went the 8 m to score with Freddie Painter converting (27th min)
7-12
Then 2 mins later from a scrum on halfway, the forwards with an offloading game allow George Parnell at 10 today to set Sam Mikhael away from the halfway line who makes no mistake this time to score with Freddie adding the extras
7-19
With the half drawing to a close Butts were awarded a scrum under their own posts but a penalty award for blocking led to them kicking the 3 points
10-19
This , however,wasn’t the end of the scoring, Barkers went up the pitch and 10 out from the line a Burntwood penalty after Ollie Hurst had made inroads into the defensive line gave scrum half Max Robinson the opportunity to take a quick tap and go to race to the line and score right in halftime
HT 10-24
With the slope and wind in the second half it was all about control and it wasn’t long before the first try of the half came
9 mins into the half Barkers had a line out just on the halfway , Lewis Wheatley rose and archer his back to take the throw , bringing it down to set the drive and what a drive it was , going virtually to the Burntwood try line before Sam Hines peeled off to shoot over the line to score
10-29
Burntwood weren’t finished , a series of missed tackles saw them get into the corner for another score
15-29
Then on 15 mins George P took matters into his own hands from 10 , a searing jinking run took the team up to the 5 m line , the forwards then took over with a series of hit ups before Harrison Collier picked up and boshed over the line
15-34
Straight from kick off the ball landed at Charlie Gaut’s feet , picking it up he was faced by 2 forwards and a gap, thru he went and showed just how quick he is by gassing the rest of the defenders to go on and score with Freddie adding the extras
15-41
20 mins into the half now and it was getting worse for the home team , from pressure of a scrum the ball went thru the hands , then a step and go by Ollie Hurst opened up the defence , he then put his foot down from the 10 m line , a couple of fends later he was over the line for his try again Freddie doing the honours
15-48
With the game drawing to a close Burntwood launched one final attack but the Butts “D” was in no mood to concede forcing a scrum 5 m from the line after a knock on, George put in a clearance kick but this was mid fielded by the B’s full back, they say a kick is as good as its chase and there was Charlie Gaut capitalising by picking up the loose ball and offloading off the floor
Quick hands followed and a silky run by Freddie saw the pitch open up , with the try line beckoning he passed the ball to Sam M who got caught by the scrambling defence but testament to the forwards fitness enbloc they were there to set the ruck,hit up and when the ball went out George put Alfie Griffin into the gap at lace to go over and score , Freddie capping it off with the conversion
FT 15-55
The players worked hard throughout the game , never let the heads drop and played a great brand of rugby against a game Burntwood team
Commitment levels were excellent, try’s aplenty all of quality
Thanks to all for the support
MOM Ben Edwards & Max “Frogs” Robinson
Squad
Luke Loui (Capt) Tom Harrison Danny Sam H
Matt Tyler Lewis Alfie Ben
Max R George Sam M Callum Charlie Ollie(VC) Josh S Freddie Max G
