The Banbury Bulls came down to earth with a thump in their latest Midlands Three league fixture which saw them on the receiving end of a 76-0 demolition by unbeaten league leaders Old Northamptonians.

After their exploits the weekend before which saw the Bulls destroy Leicester Vipers by 76 points to 21 and then back up the following day to make it through to the cup final, coach Grant Holmes was confident his side could travel to Northampton and give a good account of themselves and even give their unbeaten opponents a real run for their money.

However a large list of unavailable players saw his numbers depleted to the point that on match day morning they were left with no option but to travel with just the two substitutes.

“I couldn’t believe it during the week when all these messages and calls kept coming through from the guys making themselves unavailable. The weekend before played a part in that with several players suffering injuries which forced them out of the running. Eventually we got down to just 17 players available which meant some reshuffling in the forward pack and several players playing out of position and likewise in the back line.”

Matters were compounded prior to kick off when the Bulls lost the experienced Matt Brock to a nasty ankle injury during the team warm up and Holmes was again left to reshuffle his side to put out a pack.

“We ended up with four props in the starting eight, the colts hooker making his first start for the first team, two second row players in the back row and only one playing in his rightful position.”

“The situation was far from ideal and would have caused us problems against any side, but to have to play with those combinations against the top side really did put us on a hiding to nothing.”

“Credit to the lads, they never gave up, never started pointing the finger at each other, we just went back and did our best on the day and that quite obviously was a long, long way off where we needed to be.”

“We certainly didn’t help ourselves, particularly in the first half when for the vast majority of it most of us seemed to forget how to tackle and there were times when they ran through our entire team with ease.”

“The second half could not have started any worse when we lost our captain David Phipps to a nasty shoulder injury. This forced us to bring on our only substitute who just so happened to be a winger so Dylan Day moved from centre to the back row and Chris Phillips slotted in to number eight.”

“There were some courageous efforts from some of the lads, two or three of us started the game with injury concerns and they were compounded during the game but we soldiered on, there was no other option. I just hope the effort of those lads doesn’t keep them out of our remaining three matches.”

“I was quick to draw a line under the game, put it down to being just one of those situations. They happen from time to time in everyone’s playing days where you are only just able to scrape a side together, but the important thing for me was the attitude of the guys, we kept on going back for more. Our application on the day was another story we let ourselves down badly on that front by not turning up and executing some of the basic elements of the game. Regardless of what side you put out the effort and application has got to be there every time. Unfortunately we were a long way from where we needed to be.”

“This week we play our last home game of the campaign and we will be even more determined now to put on a fantastic spectacle for our very loyal band of supporters. They deserve it as much as anyone and I expect the lads to be fired up during the week and raring to get stuck in and get our rugby back on the right track. There is still plenty for everyone to play for, there are only 20 places for the cup final and everyone wants to be part of it so the effort and the performances over the next two league matches will go a long way to determining who will make up that 20.”