The Banbury Bulls secured their first win of 2009 with a hard fought 20-17 victory over Old Newtonians of Leicester with the final kick of the game. With the scores tied at 17 all and time up on the clock the Bulls were awarded a last play of the game penalty which Darren De Bruyn stepped up and took successfully but only after the ball struck the upright before falling between the posts.

It was almost another game in which the Bulls let slip from their grasp as they relinquished a 17 point lead early in the second half to find themselves locked in a 17 all battle as they once again appeared to hit the self destruct button.

Playing the first half with the elements of a strong wind and a slight slope in their favour the Bulls played some very good rugby, keeping the opposition camped in their own half and putting phases of play together that stretched the defence time and again.

The first points of the game came after 10 minutes with the Bulls on attack and looking dangerous, however an infringement at the breakdown by the opposition saw Banbury handed a penalty which De Bruyn calmly slotted between the uprights for a 3 point lead.

Soon after the restart the Bulls were back on attack with possession deep in Old Newts territory. From a lineout 20 metres out fly half Grant Holmes orchestrated a backline move which created space for left wing Carl Daniels to exploit resulting in a try in the corner. The conversion was unsuccessful but at 8-0 up and appearing to be the only team in the game the Bulls were on track for a healthy half time lead.

Again the Banbury side went on the attack with some great interlinking between the backs and the forwards stretching the home side to breaking point and once again they infringed, giving De Bruyn the chance to take the Bulls lead out to eleven points, a chance he accepted slotting the ball straight down the middle.

Wanting more points before turning around into the strong breeze the Bulls went in search of more points and they should have come on the half hour mark when the ball was recycled and passed wide on the right hand side. Outnumbering the defence it looked certain the Bulls were going to score but a wrong option cost them the chance of extending their lead.

This let of for Old Newts seemed to spark them into life as they produced their best passage of play in the first half. Retaining possession they went in search of what would have been an extremely handy score before the half time break. However some well organised defence from the Bulls kept them out and when the half time whistle went the Bulls were ahead by 11 points to nil.

The second half started well for the Bulls, keeping the ball in hand they twice surged into the home sides twenty two and both times came away with 3 points courtesy of the boot of De Bruyn, whose two successful penalty attempts stretched the lead to 17 points. One more score from the Bulls and this game was over, but then it was here that the self destruct button appeared to be pushed.

Too many basic errors started to creep into their game which gifted the opposition possession and with the wind at their backs they kept the visitors camped in their own half without possession for long periods of time and after exerting constant pressure on the Bulls line they eventually crossed for their first try of the afternoon.

A mistake from the restart once again saw possession and territory given away far too easily and from a strong attacking position the home side surged deep into Banbury territory. An infringement from De Bruyn saw a penalty given away just 10 metres from the Bulls try line but even worse for the visitors De Bruyn was yellow carded and sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes.

With the extra player Old Newts decided to run the ball, but they didn’t count on a resolute Banbury defence keeping them at bay. However their next visit into the Banbury twenty two did see them get that all important second try. With extra numbers on the left hand side the ball was passed out and the try scored. The conversion missed but Banbury’s lead was now just 7 points.

Once again straight from the kick off the Bulls made an error which cost them possession and territory and just like the time before Old Newts made them pay. After several attempts to cross the Bulls line through their forwards the defence finally cracked as the referee adjudged that the outstretched arm of the Old Newts player had enough downward pressure to award the try. The successful conversion from close to the posts brought the two teams level.

With only a few minutes on the clock the Bulls knew that if they could just maintain possession and cut out their basic errors they had a chance of taking back control of the game and that is exactly what happened. Recycling ball through the forwards created some space on the right hand side and just when it looked like a try was on the cards a wrong option once again brought a promising movement to an end. However the Bulls kept hold of the ball and eventually the referee called for an advantage to be played for an Old Newts player being off side. Banbury tried to utilise this advantage to generate a try but eventually settled for the penalty just to the right of the posts some 26 metres out. Kicking into the breeze wasn’t going to be easy but De Bruyn struck the ball well and as it started to drift left it clattered into the left hand upright and dropped over the cross bar. As soon as the touch judges flags went up the referee blew for full time.

A jubilant Bulls team flocked to De Bruyn to congratulate him on securing a much needed league win.

Bulls coach Grant Holmes was a very relieved man at the final whistle as it appeared his side were had once again blown the chance of securing a victory when comfortably ahead early in the second half.

“I can not quite put my finger on what it is with us but we did a similar thing against Lutterworth a month ago, but on that occasion we really got stung, blowing a 15 point lead to lose 17-15. Whatever it is, we need to correct it pretty quickly, we need to become ruthless and not sit back and relax once we establish a lead.”

“Whether we tend to switch off once we have built up a lead or not I do not know but their comeback from 17 points down was instigated by our lack of concentration and basic error count, not because they came out and played us off the pitch in the final 30 minutes.”

“This team needs to learn how to put sides away, we do all the hard work by playing well and establishing a handy lead, now we have to learn to turn the screws and put sides to sword. They should have been dead and buried with 20 minutes to play but we failed to get that vital extra score which would have seen them roll over. Instead they came back scored next and all of a sudden they are only 12 points behind playing with their tails up.”

“Our first half performance was the best we have played since November, the forwards and backs combined well, we put width on the ball and players worked hard to get into the right areas to make a difference at the next phase of play.”

“We should have been further in front at the break, with one or two chances going begging because of poor option taking. We need to be more clinical in this area, we are good at creating chances, putting them away is a different story”

“The most pleasing aspect for me was that we travelled away from home and secured a win with a side that was missing seven first choice players through injury or unavailability for one reason or another. What we saw instead was those guys brought up from the second team rise to the challenge and play extremely well. It was also evident that the senior players in the side took a lot of responsibility on their shoulders and many of them played their best games for some time.”

“We had one young player come off the bench on his debut and have to play out of position in the front row, we had a hooker who could only play half a game before having to race off to the airport to go on holiday and we had a half back play in the back row. So all of this certainly was a concern before kick off but the boys did very well and from my point of view we were the better side on the day and thoroughly deserved our win.”

“The beauty for me this week is that we should have several players back on deck so selection will hopefully be done by process of form and commitment to training rather than phoning around all week finding out who can play.”

This week the Bulls play host to the Chinnor 2nd team in the quarter final of the Oxfordshire Cup, being played this Saturday afternoon at 2:30pm.

Coach Holmes would like to see a big crowd at the game to spur his boys onto victory and a place in the semi final.

“It’s the perfect opportunity to come up and enjoy an afternoon watching and supporting your local rugby team and then at the final whistle head into the bar for a well earned beverage and watch the Ireland vs England Six Nations match.”