STAFFORD DEVELOPMENT vs. BURTON 2ND XV. 14th February 2015.

Burton 62 – 11 Stafford

Stafford Development took the short trip across to the East of the county for a friendly against neighbouring Burton. The home side had their 1st team game called off, so the travelling Stafford XV found themselves against a large and experienced Burton squad.

The home side started off well, a few missed tackles from the visitors conceding a couple of early tries. The Development team then fought their way back into the game and two penalty kicks from Chris Newell halved the deficit. Stafford continued playing some good rugby finding success through the line outs and scrums, putting the Burton pack under pressure. Burton came back into the game, adding more points through some good periods of play. Just before half time a dislocated shoulder saw Gaz O Connor leaving the field to add to the visitors woes.

Half time lead to changes for Stafford and Burton, the home side settling the quickest and piling more points onto the board. Stafford would not lie down and deep into the final period they were able to find some control and started to ramp up the tempo. The Stafford forwards started to dominate the opposition, the scrum noticeably walking over a struggling Burton. The visitors built on this momentum and successful rucks created the space for Rich Whatling to crash over for the try.

Stafford development team played with incredible spirit and never gave up, the scores could have been much further apart but the spirit in the team shone through.