BURTON RFC got back to winning ways on Saturday as they eventually overcame a dogged Ludlow side at the Linney.
The Crofters showed their determination to win by putting in some hard tackling and good defensive work when the home side controlled play for 30 minutes before and after half-time.
Although leading for much of the match, it was only two tries in the last five minutes that eventually sealed victory.
From the kick-off, Burton showed they meant business when Will Brooks took the ball from a line-out and fed Dave Fitchett, who crashed through the defensive line to set up Craig Dutton and Matt Tivey for a surge forward.
Unfortunately, Tivey’s pass to Dominic Taylor was just knocked on as the flanker raced up in support.
Then Dutton seized on a loose ball to charge on again, but with no support, he was tackled on the home 22.
However, Ludlow were penalised for hands-on in the ruck and conceded a penalty that Dave Archer scored to land the first of six successful kicks at goal during the afternoon and put his side into a 3-0 lead.
The restart sailed directly into touch to give the first scrum of the game and Burton’s efforts were rewarded as Taylor raced away upfield.
He was tackled just on the home side’s 22, and although Ludlow retrieved the ball, a great tackle by Ian Gilmour allowed Archer to snatch it up and counter-attack.
However, he was stopped and penalised for not releasing and a quick tap and go by the opposition carried them over the line for a converted try to take the lead at 7-3.
Archer’s deep kick-off saw Lewis Brooks and Lawrence Betty in pursuit, and Brooks tackled the catcher to allow Burton to move the ball out wide, but a tackle on Betty saw possession lost.
However, great pressure by the pack saw Ludlow driven backwards and turned for a repeat scrum.
Dutton picked up and managed to elude the on-rushing cover to set up a sixphase move that saw his side press forward, but Archer failed to attack the ball and a chance was lost.
Burton were playing the better rugby, but the width of the pitch caused problems and nullified the pace of Archer and Danny Smith out wide.
Forced to attack through midfield, Josh Cartwright stole the ball from a line-out to set up a five-man drive that led to the visitors being awarded a penalty, and Archer slotted between the posts to reduce Ludlow’s lead to just one point at 7-6.
Burton failed to gather the restart, with Will Brooks nearly knocking on, but the support around him saw Taylor save the day by taking the ball forward before Luke Peach rolled the ball into touch on the opposition’s 22.
From the line-out, the Crofters drove forward again, and with Ludlow trying to pull down the maul, the referee awarded a penalty try that Archer converted for a lead that they were never to lose.
A great take by Kev Birt then saw him put in one of his typical bustling runs that took play to inside the opposition’s 22, where Ludlow were caught offside.
Archer again made no mistake with the kick and Burton took a 16-7 lead into halftime.
From the kick-off, the visitors had to replace Tivey with James Hamilton after the former hurt his neck when stopping an opponents’ powerful run.
Burton then had another six-phase counter-attack, with Birt again making masses of ground, but were guilty of losing the ball at the breakdown, and this gave the opposition confidence to try and dominate the game.
A spell of 20 minutes followed that saw Ludlow pressing and controlling the game, as passes went astray and the Crofters struggled to get any pattern in their play.
Will Brooks was then replaced by Ken Archer, while Danny Campbell was given his debut when he came on at scrum-half for Ben Peach.
Although Burton were still guilty of failing to retain possession, these changes did appear to help settle them as their play became more structured and meaningful.
However, they also conceded a penalty for offside which Ludlow converted to reduce the lead to 16-10.
With the clock slowly ticking away to full-time, the visitors at last started to play to their potential as Birt, Dutton and Nathan Taylor all made strong runs to take play into the opposition’s half.
Ludlow again stole the ball, but as they tried to run out of defence, Lewis Brooks swept like a hawk to intercept a pass and race 30 metres to touch down for a try that Archer converted to take the score to 23-10.
Then a superb piece of passing between Campbell, Peach, Brooks and Archer saw the latter take a return pass off Brooks to streak clear of the defence and touch down near the posts.
He converted this himself to give Burton a rewarding victory.
