With a strong breeze blowing down the pitch and into their faces, Banbury would need to keep the ball in hand wherever possible during the first half.

After a cagey first 10 minutes where both sides tested each other out, it was the Bulls who started to gain the ascendancy with several probing runs from both forwards and backs repeatedly testing the Upton defence. Good ball security at the breakdown allowed Banbury to string together several phases of play within the Upton 22, and with the defensive line stretched, centre James Heywood’s strong run saw him break through on the left to open the scoring for the home team. Full-back Mike Smith was on target and Banbury’s league season was up and running at 7-0.

Upton responded well to this early setback and began to put more pressure on the breakdown. Ill-discipline at by the Bulls led to several penalties that allowed Upton to clear their lines and make some inroads into the Banbury half, leading to a successful penalty goal for Upton to bring the score to 7-3. However Banbury’s (mainly) young and mobile forwards were able to put the opposite pack under pressure at scrums and lineouts, and did not allow the handy Upton backs much clean ball to work with. Banbury continued to go through their phases, making yardage each time and soon found themselves back in the Upton 22 looking to double their try tally.

But some stalwart Upton defending and loose play by Banbury saw the Bulls turn the ball over just 5 metres short of the Upton line. A quick pop pass fed the tall Upton second row, who showed tremendous pace over the full 90 metres to run a try in under the posts, in a stunning turnaround. With an easy conversion knocked over, Upton now found themselves 10-7 up after 15 minutes rather against the run of play.

Banbury however refused to panic and whilst Upton continued to harass the breakdown area, the Bulls were able to work through their phases to good effect and keep Upton pinned in their own half. With 20 minutes of the match gone Banbury began to use the full-width of the Bodicote Park pitch and strong running combined with some simple passing saw hooker Liam Stratford run in from 15 metres to the left of the posts to finish off a well worked team try. Smith was off-target with the conversion but Banbury were back in the lead at 12-10

Just 10 minutes later Upton’s disruption work at the ruck was penalised and skipper Ed Phillips kicked to the corner close to the Upton line to utilise Banbury’s solid line out. A neat catch-and-drive saw the ball worked to the back where Number 8 Simon Brand benefited from the hard work of the rest of the forwards to dot down for a simple try. With Mike Smith adding the extras, things were looking healthier for Banbury with a 19-10 lead. The rest of the half continued in the same vein with Upton under pressure at the set-piece and struggling for continuity, whilst Banbury worked phases only to be let down by some poor handling at times.

The second-half continued in much the same vein, with Banbury pressure being held back by solid Upton defensive work. Upton seemed to thrive on turnover ball and whilst their forwards and backs run well in the broken field, it was too often too far from the Banbury 22 to really threaten the home side. Indeed it was the Bulls who were next on the scoreboard, when once again, pressure in the Upton 22 saw their defensive line stretched and allowed winger Andy Mawle to force his way over the line to score.

Despite the missed conversion Banbury were now in control of the match at 24-10 and with 20 minutes remaining Banbury made the game safe when winger Jed Boyle, in his Banbury comeback match after returning from a season with Kenilworth, showed some excellent footwork to break through the Upton line. Boyle then simply drew the Upton full-back and timed his pass perfectly to the supporting Phillips who ran in to score wide out on the left. With Smith off the field, Phillips stepped up and coolly slotted the very tough conversion to bring the score to 31-10 to Banbury.

With the match pretty much in the bag, Banbury seemed to go off the boil as further handling errors crept in and Upton continued to work hard both defensively and in their break outs. However, neither side troubled the scorers again and in the end Banbury ran out comfortable winners 31-10.

Whilst the victory was a good positive start for the Bulls, coach Ian Heywood was quick to stress that there was still many areas that Banbury needed to work on if they were to do well in this league.

Next Saturday Banbury travel to Barkers Butts for their first away league fixture of the season.