Banbury Bulls entertained last season’s Midlands 1 West runners up Bournville in their opening home league fixture at Bodicote Park. The team included a number of enforced changes with Henry Teare coming into the back-row and a last-minute injury found Rory Dymond stepping up from the second team to start at loose-head prop.

Banbury had shown that they could compete at this level the previous week and were keen to maintain their unbeaten home record that stretched back to January 2009. However it was to be the visitors who were to have the majority of the possession, territory and pressure for much of the first half.

With the strong wind at their backs Bournville kicked off and an immediate knock on by skipper Sean Bannister set the tone for the first 30 minutes of the match. Bournville attacked relentlessly within the Banbury half but a supreme defensive effort by all 15 Banbury men kept the visitors out. Bournville repeatedly kicked to the corner and took the scrum option from a number of Banbury penalties in a bid to get the maximum reward for their pressure. Eventually the pressure told and from yet another 5 metre scrum the Bournville Number 8, Dickerson barreled over to open the scoring. The kick was good and Bournville finally had a 7-0 lead after 30 minutes.

But the defensive effort had not drained Banbury’s resources and shortly after the home side worked their way into the Bournville 22 for nearly the first time in the game and were awarded with a penalty directly in front of the posts. Winger Mike Smith stepped up and duly added to his season’s tally to make the half-time score 7-3. And things were to get better from the Bulls who started the second half in the same manner that they had ended the first, forcing their way into the visitors 22 and being rewarded with a penalty. Again Smith was on target and the score now stood at 7-6.

However Banbury seemed to take their foot off the gas at the exact wrong moment and a poor kick chase allowed Bournville replacement winger Rob Brown to claim the ball 65 metres from the try line and motor through under the post to score a splendid solo try. With fly-half Warner slotting the easy conversion Banbury once again found themselves two scores behind at 14-6.

Banbury once again put together some good passages of play and worked themselves into the Bournville danger zone and were again rewarded with a penalty. Up stepped Mike Smith and Banbury were now only 5 points down at 14-9. But a misjudgement from the resulting restart meant Banbury were unable to clear their lines cleanly and when Bournville stole the ball danger signs were flashing for the home team. A good offload out of the tackle to Brown coming into the line on a good angle saw the winger claim his second try wide out on the left. A missed conversion took the score to 19-6.

Again Banbury needed to dig deep to prevent the game running away from them and they showed considerable resolve to take the fight to Bournville. A series of good, quick phases saw the visitor’s defence stretched within their own 22 and with the defence rushing up, number 8 Simon Brand threw a long speculative pass out to the wing. The bounce was kind and Smith was on hand to collect the ball and sprint over for the try wide out on the left. Despite being unable to convert his own try Smith had now scored all of Banbury’s 17 points and they trailed by just 2.

Both sides now looked for the final, telling break that would give their sides victory and when Warner slotted a Bournville penalty over to make it 22-17, it looked like the game had swung away from the Bulls. But with less than 5 minutes remaining another drive into the Bournville 22 saw Smith given the chance again to cut the gap. He duly slotted the points and at 22-20 and two minutes to play the game was on a knife-edge.

The home side had one last throw of the dice and a final concerted drive took the Bulls to the Bournville 5 metre line. However, despite a great effort Banbury were not quite able to recycle the ball and set up for the drop goal that would have given them victory. A Bournville turnover allowed them to clear their lines and seal their victory, leaving Banbury with a ‘so close yet so far’ feeling and a losing bonus point.

Whilst Banbury will need to find winning ways before they can start to gain too many plaudits, the defensive effort in the first half led by centres Heywood and Papenfus was first class and the way the Bulls fought to the very end must be applauded.

Banbury travel to Whitchurch for a tough away encounter next week hoping, this time, that their efforts will reap greater rewards.