BURTON’S wonderful season ended on a sour note after a poor refereeing decision cost them the chance of appearing at Twickenham.
The Crofters were leading Scunthorpe 20-13 in the RFU League Champions Cup quarter-final with half-time approaching when Ian Gilmour was controversially sin-binned.
And with Jono Edwards also getting yellow- carded in the second half for what was bizarrely interpreted as a punch, Burton had to play half of the second period with 14 men.
And their numerical disadvantage cost them as they slipped to a 40-23 defeat at Heslam Park and lost the opportunity of progressing to Twickenham.
Burton kicked off and soon made inroads into home territory as Joe Carpenter and Edwards surged forward to take play into the opposition 22.
After three minutes of intense pressure, a break by skipper Tom Bartram allowed the Crofters to close in.
But with the referee playing no advantage, they were brought back for an offside decision in front of the posts and so instead of a possible seven points, they had to opt for just three as Bartram’s penalty kick bisected the uprights.
Immediately from the restart, Carpenter gathered and raced forward, bouncing through would-be tacklers to set up a ruck on the home 10-metre line.
Good quick ball saw Darryl Banton spin the ball out to Gilmour, who threw a long pass out to Lewis Brooks.
In turn he fed the on-rushing John Philliskirk, who raced 20m before passing to Dan Smith. The diminutive winger used all his weight and skill to touch down in the corner.
Bartram made no mistake with his conversion as it sailed straight through the middle of the posts.
Burton now led 10-0 after just six minutes play and Scunthorpe had yet to get out of their half.
A kick upfield from inside his own half saw Banton take play back to within five metres of the home line from the restart and put the Crofters back on the attack.
But a dubious penalty in the line-out allowed Scunthorpe to relieve the pressure as they kicked back to halfway.
At this line-out the referee again decided Burton had infringed and the home kicker duly slotted over his penalty attempt from the halfway line to reduce the deficit to 10-3.
But just three minutes later Bartram cancelled this out with his own successful kick after the opposition had at last been found guilty of killing the ball.
Now leading 13-3, the Crofters failed to gather the restart cleanly and from the scrum some poor defending around the fringes allowed the home side to pour through and score a converted try.
Shortly afterwards, Burton temporarily lost the services of Edwards and Danny Clarke to head wounds.
With the home team getting more into contention, the Crofters replied with probably their best try of the season.
From the restart, Scunthorpe kicked high and long downfield towards the Burton line, but the safe hands of youngster Brooks gathered the ball and threw a long pass out to fellow junior Smith.
He set off from inside his own 22 and proceeded to race diagonally, jinking his way around every defender between him and the full-back.
As he neared the full-back, he saw Lawrence Betty racing up in support to take his pass and swerve inside to score under the posts.
Bartram again made no mistake with his conversion to give some breathing space with the score at 20-10.
Scunthorpe tore back into Burton territory and after six minutes of immense pressure, which saw the Rob Wakelin, Clarke, Simon Spencer and Craig Dutton all tackling bravely, the defence held out.
But another penalty decision allowed the home side an easy three points.
The restart saw the opposition continue to push forward but the Crofters were giving nothing away as they countered with powerful runs from Charl Neethling, Dutton, Josh Cartwright and Carpenter.
The game continued to ebb and flow, but all too often the referee’s whistle gave penalties against Burton.
With half-time approaching, an opposition scrum on the Burton line saw Gilmour yellow-carded for offside as he raced forward towards the unbound No 8.
So with the last kick of the half, Scunthorpe reduced the lead to 20-16.
The home side made full use of their man advantage after the break and quickly added a try in the corner and then followed that with a converted try.
Before Gilmour returned to the game, Scunthorpe led 30-20.
But Burton hit back as Dutton and Carpenter took play into the home 22 Good quick ball was spun out along the line to Brooks but he just failed to ground the ball and a chance was gone.
Then some great following up by Carpenter saw him tackle the opposition fullback on his own line, but with the opposition player hanging on to the ball the Crofters were denied a certain try and were only awarded a penalty that Bartram duly converted to take the score to 30-23.
A quick tap penalty by Edwards saw him tackled before he had travelled 10m, but an outstretched arm was seen as a punch by the referee and he was yellow-carded as Scunthorpe regained the ball to kick it into the Burton 22.
Another penalty against the Crofters allowed the home side increase their lead to 33-23, before a scrum on the visiting line saw the unsighted referee award a pushover try as the pack battled to stop the powerful opposition surge. The conversion gave a final score of 40-23 to Scunthorpe.
