Banbury Bulls travelled away to Solihull to take on fourth placed Silhillians in their last game of 2011. With Banbury yet to win on the road in the league and Silhillians unbeaten at home, the bookies would probably predict a win for the men from the Midlands.
Banbury made a number of changes to the team through injury and unavailability and first team debut starting spots went to prop Marcus Ferraro, hooker Phil Fox and full-back Sam Allen. With Jed Boyle unavailable, Mike Smith moved back to fly-half and Pete Flemming stepped into the outside-centre berth.

With a truly wintry day greeting both teams and the pitch heavy from the previous week's rain, it looked like a day to stick the ball up the jumper and play for territory - not for expansive rugby. However credit should go to both teams who looked to play from the off despite the conditions and it was Sils seemed to adapt to the conditions quickest.

The home team quickly established dominance at scrum time as Banbury struggled to win their own ball, and Sils looked to make use of this possession with some strong running from their forwards. Banbury had to step up their defensive effort to meet this challenge and the hard work being done in training on this aspect of their game seemed to pay off. Time and again Sils battered away in the Bulls 22 only for the visitors solid tackling to snuff out the attacks before forcing the mistake or turnover and clearing their lines.

Taking heart from keeping their tryline intact, Banbury started to make good forays into the Sils half, with Allen returning kicks with interest through some strong and mazy running. The Bulls were the first to make a mark on the scoreboard through the boot of Smith. Under the pressure of Banbury's increasing attacks, Sils back row gave away a series of penalties and the Banbury fly-half duly slotted over the kick to give the visitors a 0-3 lead.
Banbury then went on to double their lead through similar circumstances as Smith was again on target and Banbury lead 0-6. However Sils were not to take this lying down and after a strong run by the home second row lead to a missed tackle in midfield, Banbury once again found themselves defending their line. After repeated attempts by Sils were met by a blue and white wall, it looked as though Banbury would keep the home side out, but eventually the Bulls ran out of defenders and Sils crashed over for a try. With the conversion drifting wide Banbury kept their lead, just, at 5-6. During the defensive effort, Smith injured himself and was replaced by returning student Jo Mills.

The Bulls first try of the game came from some superb harrying work from flanker Sam Mills, who hunted down the opposition fly-half on his own ten-metre line after a disrupted scrum. Despite the pressure from the ensuing breakdown, Sils seemed to have won the ball and looked to clear their lines. However, skipper and scrum-half Ed Phillips was on hand to charge the clearance kick down. Following a kind bounce, he was able to grubber the ball over the line and dot down near the posts. Taking over the kicking duties, he converted his own try and Banbury went in at half time with a 5-13 lead.

The second half begun much as the first half had as Sils drove into the Banbury 22 and came close to the visitors' line, only for the Bulls line to hold firm. And it was Banbury who were to stretch their lead through a second try. On their own 10 metre line, Phillips chipped over the onrushing Sils defensive line and smartly caught the ball. With the home fullback coming over to take him down, Phillips saw a wide open space down the left wing. Putting boot to ball he put a long kick down into the Sils 22 and Bulls winger George Williamson was first to get there. With time and space on his side, the young winger scooped up the ball and went over for the score wide on the left. Phillips was off target with the difficult kick, but Banbury led 5-18.

Sils seemed intent on trying to use their set-piece advantage through a territorial game and kicked much of their second-half possession away. However Banbury's back three dealt with this threat fairly comfortably and it seemed like neither side could get another chance to score. The home side finally put together some good, quick phase play and as the Bulls defence was stretched first one way then the other Sils worked themselves an overlap. Shipping the ball out to their right wing, the ball ended up in the unlikely hands of the home side prop who had the pace to just evade the covering defenders and score in the corner. Again the Sils kicker was off target with the score at 10-18.

As the game moved into the final ten mintures, Banbury's confidence grew and they put together some good phases of play which resulted in Sils conceding another penalty. Phillips elected to go for goal himself and just sneaked the kick over to give the Bulls a healthy 10-21 lead, which they were to maintain until the final whistle.
Delighted with their win, Banbury had finally showed what they were capable of by putting in one of their most accomplished performances of the season. They must now take the confidence of this win into the New Year when they entertain league leaders Barkers Butts on Saturday 7th January, kick off 2:15pm.

Until then, a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to one and all from Banbury Rugby Club!