Bodicote Park – Saturday 26th November 2016

Match report by Ed Phillips

After a shaky start to the match, Banbury kept in touch during their worst period of the game and grew into the game to finish the first half just in the lead. This set up a superb second half performance which saw the Bulls take the bonus point win in front of their home fans.

Royal Wotton Bassett started the game strongly, Banbury struggled to make any inroads to their defence, but when the visitors had the ball they didn’t suffer from such problems. The home side gifted penalty after penalty to the Royals and they took advantage. The ball was recycled on the right and Banbury’s static defence enabled the visitors to make easy work of their overlap and score in the left corner. 5-0, conversion missed.

Banbury began to get more of a foothold in the game and they attacked with more meaning, this gave them field position of their own, and when the visitors gave away penalties Phillips chipped away at the lead. Firstly, making it 5-3, then putting the Bulls a point in front at 6-5. Banbury then really started to put their foot down.

A good chance went begging on the left, when they failed to keep hold of the ball with a two-man overlap. Banbury were chasing the try they felt they deserved and in doing so saw Wotton Bassett intercept and run from 65 meters to regain the lead, with the conversion attempt unsuccessful it left the score at 10-6.

Just as before Banbury looked to chip away at their opponents, two more penalties from the reliable boot of Phillips made it 12-10. Before Bassett added 3 points of their own to make it 13-12 and a real close encounter.

The last action of the half saw Banbury cross the whitewash for the first time. They recycled the ball deep in the opposition 22 and, after several attempts of picking and going around the rucks, Chris “Monkey Tail” Phillips forced his way over. Younger brother Ed added the conversion, and after an error stricken first 20 mins Banbury had turned it around to lead 19-13 at the half-time whistle.

Both sides will have thought they deserved the lead at half-time and would have been frustrated with the way they conceded points. Many onlookers would have thought it was down to who could score next and the visitors did exactly that with, what Banbury would have thought, an avoidable try. The Royals converted and now had a one-point lead at 20-19.

Next in this enthralling encounter was the try of the game. From a scrum 35 meters out Banbury’s forwards gave their backs a solid platform. From this Sam Stoop missed-out Jack Briggs to find Matt Goode, Josh Deegan had run a lovely line off his wing and made the half-break. As Deegan tried to wriggle free ‘Man of the Match’ Joe Mills (pictured) came steaming through on his shoulder, Deegan lifted the ball and Mills was in for the first of his two tries. Phillips added the extras, Banbury were bouncing, 26-20.

The Bulls third try was somewhat more fortunate. Stoop with a lack of forward options looked for field position and kicked high and long to the right, Deegan chassed this down. The ball leapt up into the winger’s arms, he stepped one and again as he was hauled back he fed Mills for his second try, this time wide on the right. Phillips was off target for the first time, but Banbury were now leading 31-20 and chasing a bonus point win at home.

Wotton Bassett added a penalty to try and stem the flow at 31-23, but Banbury really had the bit between their teeth and seemingly could make ground at will. The Bulls reached the Bassett 22 and Ed Phillips snipped around a ruck and touched down under posts, converted his own try to give Banbury a 38-23 lead and a 4-try bonus point in the process.

The game now began to get a bit fragmented and some petty arguments between the players broke out. Ed Phillips will have to hold his hands up for the Royals last try as he had a penalty reversed for back-chat and the visitors set up camp in the Bulls 22. After sustained pressure Sam Mills received a yellow card for repeat offences and Bassett scored giving them hope with 5 mins to play and a 4 try bonus point of their own. However, a crucial conversion was missed and Banbury held out for a deserved win.

The Bulls travel to Swindon next week to try and start December as they finished November.