Honiley Road, Meer End – Saturday 23rd January 2016

Match report by Ed Phillips

Banbury entered Saturday’s clash with a score to settle as Berkswell and Balsall are one of only two sides to have beaten the league leaders in any competition this season. Banbury’s win also effectively ended Berkswell and Balsall’s promotion challenge.

The Bulls won the coin toss, and chose to play up the slope. The plan of going in ahead at half time and using the elements to close out the win started perfectly. Banbury took the lead through a Phillips penalty (3-0) won at the scrum where Banbury dominated all day. The lead was extended somewhat fortunately when the referee missed a knock on in midfield, but to Banbury’s credit they reacted better to the situation by spreading the ball wide for Josh Deegan to score on the left hand side, with Phillips adding the extras to make the score 10-0.

This match was a far bigger test than The Bulls had had for many a week and this was shown as Berkswell and Balsall were able to keep the ball and put multiple phases together. Banbury did defend well for the most part but a mixture of ill-discipline and some 50:50 decisions going against Banbury gave the home side decent field position, and they turned this into 3 points from a penalty to reduce Banbury’s lead to 10-3.

If Banbury’s first try had an element of luck the second showed all of Banbury’s skill and attacking threats in one move. Following a missed penalty attempt by Phillips, the Bulls gathered the resulting 22m drop out and Deegan found full back Joe Mills bursting through the defensive line, he stepped one opponent before drawing his opposite number and feeding his captain 25 metres out. Phillips stepped the covering defender to dot down under the posts and leave himself an easy conversion, the score now 17-3.

Berkswell and Balsall entered the Bulls 22m two or three times before the half was out, but Banbury defended well and cleared the ball up field on every occasion to ease the pressure and went into the break with half the job done and a 14 point cushion.

Banbury started the second half the better, with winger Josh Deegan somehow rising above the home sides second row to claim the kick off. The Bulls charged down the hill put phases together and the forward running made ground constantly. Phillips and Stoop marshalled their troops well and Stoop spotted the opportune moment to strike out wide and threw the pass of the game by-passing the forward runner to find centre Matt Goode (pictured) on the touch line who finished smartly in the corner. Phillips was having an off day from the tee and missed the conversion leaving the score 22-3.

Berkswell and Balsall were not about to roll over, and their forward-dominated game plan began to gather momentum through well organised rolling mauls. This combined with more Bulls ill-discipline lead to the home side sensing an opportunity. Banbury thought they had the defended a set piece effectively, but the home side executed the maul perfectly to score in the corner, the conversion was added and made the score 22-10, leaving the game in the balance.

Banbury needed one more try for the bonus point, and it was another for Matt Goode, this time with a trade mark strong run through the defence then rounding the fullback to score in the corner. Phillips again was off target, but with the score at 27-10 and the clock against the home side, the Bulls were confident of the win.

This was made a bit trickier as for 20 of the last 25 minutes Banbury had to make do with 14 men, as yellow cards were shown for Sean Banister (back chat to the official) and Sam Stoop (late tackle). However Banbury held strong despite Berkswell and Balsall battering away at the Bulls line consistently until Phillips cleared the ball off the pitch for full time and a 27-10 bonus point win.

The Bulls were understandably delighted with the results and take on Droitwich at Bodicote Park next week as the curtain raiser for the highly anticipated post-game Argentinian Night, a tribute to fans-favourite Manu Paniagua.