After the short trip up to North East Leicester, the Bulls arrived in a brisk and chilly Syston to go to work. It was a tough start for the Bulls, from a rolling maul a Syston prop turned and managed to peel off to score for the hosts, try converted [7-0]. As the match moved on so did Syston, capitalising off good offloading they broke through the Bulls' defence to dot down for their second of the afternoon, try converted [14-0]. With the Bulls not fully able to get a grasp of the match Syston capitalised on some brilliant forward play with them going over close to the posts, conversion missed [19-0]. On the cusp of Half Time, Will McCubbin sustained a nasty injury in a tackle getting his head on the wrong side connecting with the opposition player’s elbow. Thankfully he was able to walk off under his own steam. In what was the last action of the half Syston capitalised from a defensive error from the Bulls with Syston’s Number 8 touching down under the posts, try converted [26-0]. A frustrated first half came to an end with the Bulls 26-0 down at the interval.

Half Time - Syston 26-0 Banbury

After a quiet start to the second half, it was a scrum to deliver the first infringement. After the referee had reset the scrum he adjudged Captain James Leonardi to have not driven straight in the scrum and set him to the bin for ten minutes. With seemingly everything going against the Bulls, Syston made the most of the man advantage kicking wide with a cross-field that was just kept in and scored out wide, the conversion missed [31-0]. Not long after it was the Bulls’ turn to score. From an excellent driving maul perfectly executed Alex Nicholls touched down, and try converted [31-7]. Shortly after it was a Syston player sent to the bin for ten minutes, in a poorly executed tackle Will Thurlow was lifted over the horizontal, thankfully unharmed. With Syston’s offload game proving dominant and impressive, soon came their sixth try. The home side took advantage of avoidable missed tackles, and conversion was missed [36-7]. The last action of the contest came from the Bulls, with another well-executed driving maul, Chris Davies, coming out of retirement that morning as cover, touched down to finish off the match. Conversion missed [36-12]. In an unfortunate afternoon for the Bulls with injuries a problem with many missing, a well-drilled Syston gave them a good match. With plenty to learn from the Bulls now enter two back-to-back home games, Derby on the 20th and Bromsgrove on the 27th January.

Full Time - Syston 36-12 Banbury

Banbury
Starting XV
15 Quinten Blythe; 14 Owen Wildgoose; 13 Daniel Hale; 12 James Miller; 11 Charlie Cranley;
10 Oscar Triggs; 9 Sam Cox
1 James Leonardi; 2 Ethan Gudge; 3 Sean Woollard; 4 William Thurlow; 5 Louis Tooth;
6 James Hibbert; 7 Alexander Nicholls; 8 Will McCubbin;

Replacements
16 Chris Davies; 17 George Ding; 18 Joe Mills;

Old Halesonians
Starting XV
15 Finlay Nockles; 14 Willam Kay; 13 Ahren Huw Crowley; 12 Matthew Steward; 11 Adam Riley
10 Jack Green; 9 Alex Cavner
1 Matthew Ferguson; 2 Angus Wilbourn; 3 Joshua Kilby; 4 Robert Clay; 5 Devon Coulson;
6 William Hutchings; 7 Jamie Skerritt; 8 Luke Stewart

Replacements
16 Joseph Sutton; 17 George Perkins; 18 James Smith