Due to County Cup rules being slightly different Banbury were able to have 5 substitutes rather than the usual 3 in the league. Impressively for the Bulls, Banbury were able to have 16 out of their 20 players graduate from Banbury’s youth section in the squad for the game.

Banbury started well and went through phase after phase to work their way from their own half to the edge of the Henley 22. Banbury won a penalty after Henley were penalised for not rolling away and Ed Phillips was on target to give Banbury an early 3-0 lead.

Tom Burman extended the lead with a try in the corner. The Banbury pack did well to win a scrum against the head and Justin Parker attacked the retreating Henley line before offloading to Burman for the opening try of the game. Conversion missed, 8-0.

Henley exploited some poor tackling from Banbury to add a try of their own. The winger bursting down the line in front of the clubhouse before working his way over under the posts. Converted, 8-7.

Banbury went through phase after phase at the restart working the ball all the way up the pitch before the pressure eventually told and Tom Macdonald dived over under the posts. James Jennings spotting a gap in the Henley line before offloading to Macdonald for an easy finish. Ed Phillips converted, 15-7.

Tom Macdonald added a second try after some nice link up play with Tommy Gray. Gray broke down the blindside before drawing the opposition full-back and passing inside to Macdonald for an easy run in under the posts. Converted, 22-7.

James Leonardi added another try early in the second half. Banbury won a penalty and kicked to the corner. From the resulting lineout the Bulls pack worked the rolling maul up to the line before Leonardi dotted down for a score in the clubhouse corner. Converted, 29-7.

Henley’s day was made harder when they picked up two yellow cards at the same time. One of the Henley props carded for a dangerous clear out and then the scrum half for having too much to say to the referee when he disagreed with the decision.

Banbury took advantage of the extra men almost immediately. The forwards dragged the defenders in with a rolling maul which was stopped
short just of the line but Banbury got the ball out to the backs and Tommy Gray put in a lovely kick over the top which Joe Mills caught in his stride and touched down to the left of the posts. Ed Phillips converted, 36-7.

Tom Macdonald completed his hat-trick midway through the second half, and it was more link up play with Tommy Gray that unlocked the defence. Gray switched the direction of play to attack down the blindside before drawing the last man and playing in Macdonald down the right wing. The flanker cut his way inside to touchdown close to the posts. Ed Phillips converted to make it 43-7.

With the game all but over as a contest Henley continued to work hard and picked up two late consolation tries to narrow the final score to 43-21. A comfortable win for the Bulls in the end though. Henley looked dangerous in periods but lacked the cohesion that comes with regular first team rugby. Tom Macdonald was unsurprisingly selected as Banbury’s Man of the Match. His hat-trick of tries capped a brilliant individual performance.

Speaking to stand in Head Coach, Ian Isham, after the game:

43-21 victory, what did you make of the Bulls performance today?
“I thought it was a quality performance. Playing in the cup means a huge amount to the squad and you could see that today. We asked the boys to step up and they certainly did that.”

16 out of the 20 in the squad today came through the Banbury youth section. As a Banbury lad yourself how pleasing is that to see?
“It’s great to see the conveyor belt of talent coming through the club. There is a lot of quality in the different age groups. We’ve got guys that were playing Colts last year, in the first team this season. The 2’s and 3’s is full of home-grown talent as well. It’s great to see.”

From your own personal standpoint, will you be hoping to get back out on the pitch in the near future?
“Hopefully! I’ve started to have a little run around at training again. Taking things easy though. I’ll see a specialist in January, we’ll have to wait and see how that goes then we’ll go from there.”

Next weekend we’re at home again vs Trowbridge. They’ve struggled a little bit in the league but they’re a team that on their day they can cause problems for anyone. What will you be planning for that one this week at training?
“Trowbridge are always a really tough side. We had two very close games against them last season. We’re preparing how we do for every other match. Focusing on what we do and working on our game plan. Making sure we’re by Saturday we’re as good as we can be. We’ve got a few guys coming back into the team, so I think we’ll do well”

Points scorers:
Tries: Tom Macdonald (3) Tom Burman, James Leonardi, Joe Mills
Conversions: Ed Phillips (5)
Penalties: Ed Phillips (1)