Burntwood’s first ever visit to Oswestry RFC ended in disappointment as they began their 50th season with an opening day defeat.

In a match full of errors and infringements, it was the hosts who took the honours. They are a team not used to losing, having romped the league below last season with 21 wins and a draw from 22 matches. They made the better start here to establish a 17-7 lead at the break and then applied the finishing touch with a late penalty to complete the scoring.

Their first score was a penalty goal from 25 metres out in centre field after 5 minutes. They added a try and a good conversion 11 minutes later after the visitors were penalised twice in quick succession which allowed the home forwards to maul over the line. This proved doubly costly for Burntwood as back row forward Alex Smail, on debut having moved up from the colts, injured his shoulder in the process and had to leave the field. Turkish international Hal Gozukucuk came on as replacement.
It needed a good tackle by winger Sion Edwards, chasing back, to deny the hosts another try 7 minutes later but Burntwood eventually turned the tide to move upfield. Fellow winger Josh Shepherd retrieved an opposition kick to make a run to the home 22 only for his support to knock on.

Burntwood stayed in the Oswestry 22, benefiting from a couple of penalty awards but they allowed the hosts to escape when their line out malfunctioned and Oswestry not only cleared their lines but went straight up the other end and caught the visitors out with a quickly taken tapped penalty to score their second try and add the conversion despite the best efforts of Edwards to deny the try scorer.
Burntwood hit back after another good run by Shepherd. Ben Holt kicked a penalty award to the right corner, new skipper Josh Canning won the line out and his predecessor Luke Rookyard finished off the rolling maul for a try which Brett Taylor superbly converted.

In first half injury time the visitors almost repeated the feat but scrum half Jack Butcher was held up over the line to leave the half time score 17-7.
The second period was littered with handling errors and infringements by both sides but it was the hosts who seemed to be on the wrong side of the referee’s whistle which led to some prolonged discussions between himself and skipper Canning especially concerning scrummaging.
Burntwood’s repeated attempts to run the ball out of their own half were also met by some solid tackling by the home side. The only half break saw Kian Carter, another ex-colt making his senior debut, and Billy Fisher combine to send Edwards racing down the left touchline but when he was closed down his support players infringed.

With three minutes left, the visitors were guilty of a high tackle infront of their own posts and the home kicker made no mistake to complete the scoring with a straightforward penalty goal.

Burntwood will look to put matters right when they play their first home game of the new campaign this Saturday when they welcome Aldridge to The Sportsway for a 3pm kick off. The club also hosts the first of its 50th Anniversary season-long celebrations with its Ladies’ Day event starting at 12.30 pm. More details available on the club website at https://www.burntwoodrugbyclub.com .