The Banbury Bulls bounced back from last weekend’s heavy defeat to Old Northamptonians in the best possible fashion by inflicting an eight try defeat on Midlands Three newcomers Aylestone St James at Bodicote Park on Saturday.

The game was always going to be a test of character for the Bulls, with particular interest to how they would react to the severe beating they took the weekend before and they answered their critics emphatically.

From the kick off the home side took control of the game up front with the forwards making inroads into the visitors defence with both some free flowing rugby while also enjoying the better of the tight exchanges early on. This dominance allowed the Banbury backline to operate with much more time and space as they often found gaps in defence and space on the outside.

First points for the Bulls came within the first 10 minutes, with a sweeping move on the right hand side of the field taking the ball deep into opposition territory and when the ball was released wide to the left, wing Andrew Collett was able to race to the line and dive to score in the corner just before the cover defence got across. The conversion wide out missed leaving the score at 5-0.

It wasn’t long before the home side swung onto attack again, again their forwards moved the ball in close quarter play and made inroads deep into Aylestone territory before the ball was moved to young flier Jed Boyle who had plenty of work to do to get across the try line, jinking his way back infield to wrong foot the cover defence to score. Again the conversion was off target but the home side had doubled their lead to 10-0.

On the 20 minute mark a penalty to the Bulls enabled them to kick for territory and from a line out 20 metres out fullback Peter Flemming entered the back line to breach the first line of defence but the rearguard defence of Aylestone was sound this time stopping him some 10 metres from the line, however Flemming was able to get the ball away to the supporting Grant Holmes who went over in a tackle near the posts. Flemmings conversion increased the Bulls lead to 17 points.

The visitors then had their best patch of the half after the Bulls third try and enjoyed both possession and territory advantage and with the home side infringing 20 metres out the visitors kicked for goal and reduced the Bulls lead to 14 points.

With defensive lapses from the visitors Banbury were able to run the ball from their own half to gain territorial advantage and operating in the right area of the field were able to attack the opposition. Some smart play by both the forwards and backs lead to the next try to centre John Preston. The pack took the ball deep into the Aylestone half with a number of short passes in close contact allowing them to get in behind the defence and after several breakdowns the ball was passed out to Preston who cut infield and beat the cover defence to score. The successful conversion stretched the home sides lead to 24 points.

Two more tries went the way of the home side before the half time break, firstly some enterprising play from centres Guy Sturla, John Preston and wing Andrew Collett lead to Collett’s second try of the match. Sturla broke through the first line of defence before off loading to Preston who then found Collett out wide, the ball was then returned to Preston and as he closed in on the try line so did the cover defence, so a deft pass over the top found Collett again who sprinted in under the posts untouched. The successful conversion made the score 31-3 and then on the stroke of half time the Bulls turned over possession in their own half and some quick hands gave right wing Boyle space on the outside and he ran in his second try of the match from 60 metres out, beating a desperate cover defence with his superior pace. The conversion went over to give the Bulls a more than useful 38-3 half time lead.

The second half didn’t provide the excitement and entertainment that the first produced with the visitors raising their game in an attempt to keep some respectability on the scoreboard while the home side lost some of their shape by trying to play too much cavalier rugby instead of sticking to their game plan.

The visitors enjoyed a lengthy spell camped in the Bulls half of the field and were unlucky on several occasions not to cross over for a try. Their best chance came after 15 minutes when what appeared to be a two on one overlap 10 metres from the line turned into a try at the other end of the field as Boyle intercepted the ball and sprinted 90 metres to score his hatrick try.

The game then went through a bit of a lull after this with both sides making unforced errors with the ball in hand and it wasn’t until the final few minutes that the Bulls managed to score their eighth and final try of the game. It went to fly half Holmes, who after some good work early on by several players up the right hand touch line went over in the tackle from close range. The conversion missed and after 2 further minutes the game came to an end with the Bulls winning by 48 points to 3.

Coach Grant Holmes was delighted with the reaction of his players after last weekend’s heavy defeat. Along with forwards coach Ian Heyward they demanded a strong response from their players to get themselves mentally up for the game and play with pride and passion.

“It was a very, very good team effort on Saturday, the forwards laid a pretty solid platform and the backs utilised the good quality possession they received,” said Holmes.

“After last weekends failings in defence today’s performance was going to be a big ask and on that front we really raised our performance and to keep them from crossing our line was very satisfying.”

“We were forced into making seven changes to the side that played the week before due to injury and unavailability and the seven who stepped up performed very well and this week we hope to have selection headaches for the right reasons – having many players to choose from”.

“Hooker Ian Isham made his first league start for the club having come off the bench in three fixtures last year, back row forward Andrew Oddy made his first start for two seasons and coming off the bench for their league debuts were Andrew Lace and Nick Kern, so to produce such a result and bring in these players was a terrific effort.”

“We made just one personnel change in the back line, but six position changes and it seemed to work well with all the guys answering the call to perform although playing slightly out of position.”

“We can not let ourselves get too carried away with the win, as good as it was I think we have probably played the best and possibly one of the weaker sides in the league in our first two fixtures.”

“Most certainly this weekend will be a different story as we take to the road for an away fixture against Huntingdon. They have traditionally been strong and in the top half of the league standings so we will most certainly need to raise our game again if we are to come away with another win this weekend.”