Burntwood shared ten tries with Veseyans but had more success from the kicking tee to win 37-31. In doing so, they further consolidated their second place in the table over their third place visitors.
Josh Canning’s side played against the strong wind in the first half and were quickly put under pressure inside their own 22. However, the defence held and they gradually worked their way upfield to open the scoring after 15 minutes.
Kian Carter found a good touch with a penalty award. Line out possession was worked infield with Luke Rookyard prominent before Billy Fisher grub-kicked to the right corner for Aidan Barker to dot down.
A knock-on at the restart gave Veseyans an immediate opportunity to reply and they took it. Despite good initial tackles, the outside half dummied his way through to the posts for a try and the conversion edged his side ahead.
Burntwood retook the lead on 26 minutes when Barker was high tackled and Brett Taylor kicked the penalty from in front of the posts.
Another error at the restart had the hosts defending deep in their own half. They seemed to have cleared the danger but a clearance kick was run back at them with the scorer evading tacklers in a solo effort to reach the try line.
The match turned in Burntwood’s favour in the five minutes up to half time. Veseyans lost two players to the sin bin, one for ungentlemanly conduct and one for illegally playing the ball, and the hosts quickly took advantage. Rookyard’s driving run carried play deep into the visitors’ 22. From the ensuing ruck, Hal Gozukucuk burst away for a try under the posts. Taylor’s conversion made it 15-12 at the turnaround.
They extended their lead early in the second period. Barker had already gone close after chasing Ben Holt’s kick ahead before a penalty award was tapped and moved left for the influential Fisher to speed in for a try converted by Taylor.
The try bonus point arrived on 48 minutes and it came in audacious style when hooker Rookyard chipped the ball perfectly for Barker to catch and go in for his second try.
Yet again, Burntwood allowed the visitors a quick response when they lost possession near halfway. A speculative kick ahead was not dealt with properly to gift a try to Veseyans to narrow their deficit to 27-17.
Rain arrived to add to the difficult playing conditions around the hour mark although Taylor kicked a penalty goal before Veseyans enjoyed the better of the play, working their way into the home half. With ten minutes left they made it 30-24 with a try in midfield following scrum possession.
Then it was their turn to commit a handling error at the restart to provide a scrum to Burntwood. Gozukucuk went close before Rookyard added to his tally for the season with a try from close range. A fine conversion by Taylor saw his side lead 37-24 with three minutes left.
In time added on, the visitors grafted for a losing bonus point to add to their try bonus point and in the final action of the contest they achieved it. A well-worked try from a scrum plus a carefully struck conversion concluded the action.
Burntwood 2nds suffered from late cry-offs in their line-up away to Linley. It took them an hour of the match to put their game together but by then they were 12 points down. A try from Dan Black plus a conversion from Matt Wenlock-Evans gave them hope but another try by the hosts saw them win 17-7.
The next rugby is after the festive break with league games resuming on 4th January.