Banbury Bulls were put to the sword by a clinical and well-drilled Leighton Buzzard side, who progressed to the next round of the Intermediate Cup.

Injuries and unavailablities have been the bane of Banbury's recent seasons and this game was no exception as the entire front row, half back and centre pairings saw changes from the previous week's outing. With Banbury playing up the slope in the first half, it was clear that the home side would look to use this advantage to put the Bulls under early pressure.

With a hailstorm hitting moments after kick off, Banbury were indeed pinned back in their 22 from the off and it was not long before the defensive line crumbled. Leighton Buzzard were quick to use this territorial pressure to their advantage and Banbury were 15-0 down before they spent any time in the home side's half, with full-back Andrew Joubert pushing a penalty attempt wide.

Leighton Buzzard were both dominant in the scrum and repeatedly took the ball against the head, and inventive in the lineout scoring further tries from well-worked moves. The Bulls were really under the cosh and were struggling to keep the floodgates from opening. As the first half drew to a close, Banbury were able to shore up their defence, but having conceded five first half tries the match looked over as a contest.

The second half, saw Banbury finally able to put together some phases of play and show what they can be capable of scoring tries through debutant wing Matt Smith and second row Andrew Chapman, with Joubert slotting one conversion. But even with the aid of the slope, Banbury still proved unable to stem the flow of tries to the home side, who scored at repeated intervals throughout the half, with the final try coming with the last play of the game. Final score 57-12.

Banbury will retreat to Bodicote Park to lick their wounds and regroup ahead of this Saturday's return to league action against Droitwich, kick off 3pm.