Wyken Croft, Coventry – Saturday 19th December 2015

Match report and action photos by Simon Grieve

The Bulls kicked off with a moderate tail wind to assist but on a playing surface that resembled the aftermath of a ploughing contest.

The early encounters were tetchy to say the least, the Pinley pack positively revelling in both their size advantage and possibly a secret predilection for mud-wrestling. Fortunately for the Bulls the referee was of strong character and soon awarded the visitors a penalty, duly kicked wide by skipper Ed Phillips who struggled for purchase on the liquefied surface.

The boot of Bulls fly-half Sam Stoop kept Pinley back in their own half for much of the time and the Bulls set-pieces were working well. It wasn’t long before the Pinley number 7 pushed the referee too far and received a yellow card. This time Phillips found a firm-ish piece of turf and sent the penalty over for a 3-0 Bulls lead.

In the latter stages of the first half the Bulls managed to get the backs more involved with first Jed Boyle (pictured above) and then Robin Cooke having runs down both wide channels. However, Banbury lacked accuracy in the last 22 metres making too many errors, plus the Pinley defence missed very few tackles.

The Bulls attempted a quick tap and go penalty on the edge of the Pinley 22m but it was rather craftily interfered with, the Pinley winger spending the next 10 minutes as a spectator for his troubles.

Good line-out ball from the Bulls, with hooker Ian Isham regularly hitting his throwing targets, set up chances for the Banbury pack to drive over the Pinley line. Simon Brand came the closest with a ferocious hand-off but again the Pinley defence held firm. So the score remained 3-0 to the Bulls at the turnaround.

The second half got underway with rapidly dimming light and, apparently, no fifty pence piece for the floodlight meter. The referee was also going to have fun recognising which forward was which, and by now even the backs were getting muddy.

Pinley made good use of the now quite strong wind from the restart to keep Banbury pegged in their own half. A lineout and then a scrum awarded just 10m out from the Banbury line saw the Pinley fly-half duck the defensive tackles and dot down between the posts. It was a rare lapse in concentration from either side that, ultimately, proved costly. 7-3 to Pinley.

Banbury came back strong and won a penalty about 15m out as Pinley failed to release the tackled player. Phillips was accurate again and the score was 6-7 and the Bulls a mere one point behind.

Pinley were happy to keep kicking the ball back to Banbury, the conditions making it very hard for the Bulls to break out. Centers Matt Goode and James Heywood both had more of the ball this half, Goode putting in a huge hit on the Pinley scrum-half whilst carrying, but the cover tackles always held firm.

With replacement forwards Nick Pratt and Seamus O’Dwyer on for Ken Kay and Sam Carr-Archer, Banbury had one more 10 minute period of sustained pressure in the Pinley 22 but just couldn’t find an opening.

So 6-7 to Pinley at the final whistle and the Midlands 2 West (South) league-leaders saw their margin cut from 5 to 2 points over second placed Earlsdon. All to play for in the New Year!