Banbury travelled to Daventry to face one of their traditional bogey teams in a friendly on Saturday and came out comfortable victors against a spirited opposition.

Under a hot autumn sun, the pitch at Daventry was unusually rock hard and a large crowd was in attendence to soak up some rays and watch some rugby.

Banbury were fielding a strong team that included some players making their senior debut, Joe Mills at 10, or return from injury, Mike 'Boz' Boscott at prop. However it was Daventry who came out of the blocks quicker and a series of mistakes from Banbury in their own 22 led to a penalty being awarded to the home team. This was duly slotted over by the Daventry full-back, Haynes, to give them an early 3-0 lead.

This score seemed to wake Banbury up and the pack soon had their opposite numbers struggling at the set piece. Quality scrummaging and excellent disruptive line-out tactics stifled Daventry's own ball and Banbury were quick to counter. Taking the ball into the Daventry 22 the home side were penalised for off-side and Mike Smith duly put the ball over to draw the sides level at 3-3.

With the forwards providing a platform, the Banbury backs took on the attack in their usual style and constantly made large territorial gains, including a scintillating 60m break by Dave Taylor who came close to scoring in the corner.

It was however the forward domination that were to provide the platform for the first try, when a Daventry scrum close to their own line was taken against the head the forwards took the ball up towards the line. Quick recycyling by the supporting players allowed Ed Philips to get his hands on the ball and he drove over from 10 metres out. Mike Smith added the extras (stylishly bouncing the ball through off the post!) to give the Bulls a 10-3 lead.

Daventry however were not about to fold and continued to keep the pressure on Banbury and kept a large amount of possession, but the Banbury defence was solid and Daventry never came close to crossing the whitewash. Banbury however found themselves unable to clear their lines effectively with some strong tackling from the Daventry back-row, including one big hit on Adam Walsh. With the Bulls turning the ball over far too regularly they resorted to the boot to clear their lines with mixed success, particularly from Ed Philips who followed up a lovely touchfinder with a dreadful effort where he kicked the ground rather than the ball!

Philips responded with a great cross-field kick into the Daventry 22, superbly chased by Smith who grabbed the bouncing ball and came within a few yards of scoring. Now deep in Daventry territory, Banbury's defensive pressure was too much for the home team to deal with and some excellent tackling close to the Daventry line led to David Phipps scoring a simple try from 2 yards. Again Smith slotted the conversion to give Banbury a 17-3 half-time lead.

After the restart Banbury looked to make the game safe and pressure in the Daventry 22 led to the forwards hitting up close to the rucks. With the line just 5 yards away, Andy Gilbert picked up from the base of a ruck and forced his way over to score. Smith kept up his 100% record in the match to make the score 24-3.

Rather than this score providing the boost for Banbury to pull away, the game returned to the same bitty style that had typified the first half. With lots of turnovers and a number of favourable decisions to the home team the game meandered on with no score, and was only livened up by the odd flash of inspiration. With Daventry pressuring the Bulls try-line it took try-saving tackles from hooker Nick Clarke and full-back Pete Flemming to keep Daventry from scoring. Banbury were able to relieve the pressure through exciting running from their backs, with Phillips in particular breaking from his own 22 all the way to the Daventry 22 with a try scoring last pass just not going to hand.

Following on from this break, the forwards put serious pressure on the Daventry scrum and were gunning for a push-over try. However the Daventry scrum collapsed illegaly and the ball was spun wide to captain for the day Dave Taylor who jinked his way through the defence and streteched over to score. With Smith now substituted, Taylor converted his own try to give Banbury a 31-3 lead.

Again however, the game reverted to type with Daventry earning too many penalties and turnovers and solid Banbury defence keeping them out and it was Daventry who had the last word in the game. After some ill-chosen and unwise words saw replacement hooker Sean Bannister yellow-carded and uncontested scrums in effect, a wild pass from Phillips to Mills saw the ball spill loose in the Banbury 22 and the Daventry scrum-half was quick to hack the ball over the line and fall on it to score much to the delight of the home supporters. The successful conversion was the last score of the game which ended 31-10 to Banbury.

Banbury can be pleased with the strength of their set-piece play, spearheaded by Man of the Match Boz and the dangerous running lines of all members of the back division. They will though need to work harder in training this week on protecting the ball in open play and cutting down on the number of turnovers and penalties.

Next week the Bulls resume league action away at Aylestone St James and hope to have a large travelling support.