Banbury travelled north to Staffordshire looking to start 2011 afresh with an away win. The previous clash between the two teams at Bodicote Park had seen Lichfield resoundingly take the points, but with both teams having played little in the way of matches in the previous month due to the weather, Banbury travelled with some hope of registering their first away win.

Kicking off with the strong breeze at their backs Banbury had the better of the opening exchanges as Lichfield found themselves pinned back in their own half and looked to use their dangerous backs to relieve the pressure. It was Banbury that were first to open their account when good hands between forwards and backs down the blind side saw winger Carl Daniels crash over the line despite the attentions of two defenders to give Banbury a 5-0 lead. Lichfield were quick to hit back however and some good running lines saw the Banbury defence opened up in what was to be an ominous precursor of things to come. With some excellent pace and good support lines being run Lichfield went over for the equalising try.

But Banbury seemed to treat this as just a blip and returned to the Lichfield 22 where a number of close-in drives were held up short before skipper Eddie Phillips wormed his way to the tryline to score. Fly-half Mike Smith was on target with the conversion and Banbury held a 12-5 lead. Looking to keep the pressure on the home side, Banbury again surged into the Lichfield half but the home side's good defence seemed to be holding. However repeated infringements saw the referee finally lose his patience and Lichfield lost a second row to the sin-bin. Now with a man advantage Banbury looked to extend their lead from a number of scrums close to the Lichfield line only to be hit by an excellent counter-attack sucker punch. A break from close to his own line saw the Lichfield fly-half make good yards before releasing their lightning quick winger to score under the posts. A successful conversion saw Lichfield draw level at 12-12.

Much of the rest of the half saw Lichfield make some good breaks through their quick backs whilst Banbury continued to try and pin the home side in their own half. However just as it looked like the score would remain level until another excellent break saw Banbury desperately defending 5 metres from their line. When quick ruck ball was spun wide it looked like a definite score winger Daniels went for an 'all-or-nothing' intercept only to knock the ball on. The referee, deeming that it was a deliberate attempt to kill the ball and that a try would defintely have been scored, had no hesitation in awarding Lichfield a penalty try. With a successful conversion Banbury turned around to play into the wind trailing 19-12.

The pace and precision of the Lichfield backs proved to be too much throughout the second half and Banbury conceded tries on an all too regular a basis. Despite this, Banbury never gave up and came close to adding to their total on a number of occassions. Strong runs from Andy Gilbert, Simon Brand and Will Oldham were all snuffed out just short of the Lichfield line and Banbury were unable to add to their score. When the final whistle went Banbury found themselves on the end of a 47-12 defeat.

Things do not get any easier for the Bulls as they face league leaders Dudley Kingswinford at home this coming Saturday, kicking off at 2:15.