Banbury Bulls were on the road again as they took on Camp Hill in their most recent Midlands 1 West fixture. With several injuries and unavailabilities to contend with, the unsettled nature of the Banbury sides so far this season continued. Simon Brand took over the captaincy from the injured Sean Bannister and Pete Papenfus came in at fly-half to lead a much rejigged backline.

On a perfect afternoon for rugby Banbury kicked off looking to put some early pressure on their hosts, however intelligent kicking from the home side kept the Bulls deep within their own half during the early exchanges. Unable to clear their lines effectively, Banbury were soon punished by a successful Brigg’s penalty for the home side.

Camp Hill continued to press into the Bulls half and after some good defensive work snuffed out an attack, the home sides fly-half, Edwards, took the opportunity to slot a drop-goal instead to give them a 6-0 lead.

However Banbury were quick to respond and a fluid pattern of play allowed them to generate some quick ball. With forwards and backs combining well, hooker Nick Clarke showed excellent ball-handling skills to unleash winger Sam Boyle in some space. However the visitors were to be denied an opening try of the game by an excellent cover tackle from the Camp Hill winger who forced a knock on as Boyle went over the line. Heartened by this, the Bulls went searching for their first score and it came from the boot of winger Mike Smith, who slotted over a penalty goal after 20 minutes to bring the score to 6-3.

But things soon went badly for Banbury as Camp Hill’s intelligent kicking game kept them on the front foot. And Banbury’s failure to maintain an effective defensive line was punished by two tries for the home side from Richmond and Dakes, the latter just on the stroke of half time. With both tries being converted and Camp Hill also adding another penalty, the visitors had been outplayed in the final 20 minutes of the first half and went in down by 23 to 3.

The second half started more brightly for the Bulls who looked to use the slight breeze and slope to gain territorial advantage, but poor kicking often simply allowed Camp Hill to run the ball back at a broken field defence. After a series of close drives it seemed that the home side were bound to score, but a powerful last-ditch tackle saw Brand drive his opposite number 8 into touch, just inches from the line.

And it was Banbury who were next to trouble the scorers as a series of penalties allowed Banbury to put pressure on the Camp Hill line, and after some good recycling scrum-half Eddie Phillips squeezed over to score. Mike Smith was on target again and the score now stood at 23-10. Sloppy play from the restart allowed Briggs a simple kick at goal to extend the Camp Hill lead out to 26-10 and Banbury were once again chasing the game from.

The match then started to turn and after a good break by Brand took play to the Camp Hill 5 metre line, Banbury looked odds on to score their second try. But some deliberate hands in by the Camp Hill full-back slowed play down and second-row Matt Brock’s somewhat vigorous attempt to clear the ruck lead to fists flying and Brock being shown a yellow card.

This was to be the first of the four yellow cards that the referee was to show in the final 30 minutes of the game, the other three all to Camp Hill players. One for a deliberate knock on, one for kicking the ball away at a penalty, and one for some unsportsmanlike abuse directed at the Banbury touch judge from the Camp Hill centre. With tempers raised on both sides, there were a number of incidents that broke up the play of the game and a converted try apiece to both sides, Briggs for Camp Hill and McClennan for Banbury almost went passed unnoticed amongst the hostilities.

The final whistle went and the Bulls had gone down to a fourth straight defeat, 31-17. The Bulls will now look to kick start their season in front of a good home crowd back at Bodicote Park when they entertain Lichfield this Saturday, kick off at 3pm.