Burntwood are County Cup kings

The two teams locked horns in a keenly-contested final on Saturday with Tony Clements’ youngsters running out narrow 17-15 winners.

Youngster Josh Massey was the star of the show after scoring one try and kicking four penalties.

The victory was particularly sweet for Burntwood’s youngsters after Wolverhampton knocked them out in the semi-finals of the competition last year.

And head coach Clements believes his side deserves huge credit for going on and winning the prize this term.

“We are absolutely delighted to have won,” he said. “After coming third last year we assessed what we felt our weaknesses were and how we could build on them.

“As a coaching staff we challenged the lads to develop and progress and the response we had was fantastic.

“They are such a good group with a fantastic team spirit and they thoroughly enjoyed the journey to the final and then going on to win it.

“We are one of the smaller community clubs but knocked out some big-hitters in Lichfield and Tamworth. And then we beat Wolverhampton.

“We always knew it was going to be a very tight game. We played them home and away in the season, they won one and we won one.

“It couldn’t have been any closer so the 17-15 scoreline was fitting really. We’re just delighted we were the ones who came out on top.”

Clements said fellow coaches Simon Barker, Karl Jones and Mark Boswell all deserve credit for the work they have done with Burntwood’s under-14s this year.

And the head coach said it was fitting the team was presented the trophy by the club’s honorary secretary Robert Forsyth – who is the incoming Staffordshire County president.

“Robert is the incoming Staffs county president and he presented our captain Daniel Clements with the cup,” the head coach added.

“That was really lovely because it was one of our own presenting one of our own.”