Banbury controlled large spells of the game, but Maidenhead took their chances well, as the Bulls lost to the early league leaders, 19-31.

Banbury had the tough test of picking themselves up for a game against the league leaders, Maidenhead, following a poor performance the previous week against Bracknell. James Miller started for the first time this season, whilst Jack Briggs returned to the starting line-up.

Dan Brady got Banbury off to the perfect start when he scored in the opening five minutes. Tom Burman kicked behind and as the Maidenhead defender fumbled the ball, Brady gathered and scored. Ed Phillips pushed his conversion attempt wide, 5-0.

Banbury had dominated the opening stages but the first time they had a chance to reply, Maidenhead took it. Kyle Beattie breaking through some poor tackling to score down the left wing. Greg Smith added the extras, 5-7.

The Bulls responded in the best way possible with a great try of their own. Good patience led to a half break and as Quinten Blythe was tackled, he offloaded to Alex Garbett on his outside shoulder to score to the left of the posts. Converted, 12-7.

Maidenhead re-took the lead after some poor defending left Antonio Kiri Kiri in open play and there was no stopping the number 8 from close range, converted, 12-14.

The away side added another try just before the break. Banbury turned the ball over in their own 22 and cleared their lines but the Maidenhead backs returned the ball with interest and Kyle Beattie added his second try of the game in the left corner. Conversion missed, 12-19.

Maidenhead added another try when they went quickly with a penalty and Banbury didn’t fully recover in defence. James Maddern crossing in the corner to the right of the posts. Conversion missed, 12-24.

George Ding looked to have scored for Banbury, but the referee didn’t see a clear grounding. In fact, it would be Maidenhead who would extend their lead following a lovely break from their own half. Kyle Beattie completing his hat-trick after some lovely passing and decision making from the backs. Converted, 12-31.

The Bulls had another one held up over the line although this time Jack Briggs looked to have been tackled short of the line and the Bulls should have kept the ball rather than a goal line drop out. The good pressure from Banbury did eventually pay off with the Bulls driving a rolling maul over the line for Nick Agbo to score to the left of the posts. Ed Phillips added the extras, 19-31.

The Bulls went looking for a late try which would have given them two bonus points, but couldn’t find the breakthrough they deserved before the full-time whistle.

A frustrating game. Banbury were on top for large spells but Maidenhead were clinical when they had possesion. Taking the positives, pushing the league leaders in a new league is a good sign and the Bulls responded well to last weeks performance against Bracknell. To come away with no points was harsh on the boys, but if they continue to perform like they did then the results will come their way.

Match Stats:
Tries: Dan Brady, Alex Garbett and Nick Agbo
Conversions: Ed Phillips (2)

Speaking to Head Coach, Soane Tonga’uiha, after the game:

19-31, a much better performance today but I imagine that’s a frustrating one to lose?
“Yeah. I felt gutted for the boys to not get the result today. But like you said a much better performance from the boys and something they should be proud of. It was a much better performance than last week. Maidenhead have got a skilful side. They’ve got backs that will try and run it from anywhere. They’ve got some real speedsters out on the wings. I think our fitness probably let us down towards the end there. That’s why we started to fall of tackles and start to make silly errors. 60 minutes of that game we were there or there abouts, dominating spells of the game. But we need to get fitter and learn to finish games off.”

After last week we talked about how this week wouldn’t be about the result but how they bounced back and the performance, were you pleased with how they’ve responded?
“Really pleased. Compared to last week it was a totally different side. They trained hard this week. We didn’t need to say much after last week, we knew it wasn’t good enough. The way we played today, the performance was much better. Now the job is to get that kind of performance for the full 80 minutes. It’s a tough league and it seems that if you’re fit, you do pretty well.”
It’s another tough test next week away at Camberley, the fixture list hasn’t been the kindest to start the season but it’s a good way for the boys to find their feet at this level, isn’t it?

“It doesn’t get any easier. Whatever league you’re in, the only way to test yourselves as a team or a squad is to play against the best. There are no easy teams in this league so I don’t think any team you can underestimate. We’ve got areas to work on and we start prepping for Camberley on Tuesday.”