Banbury Bulls welcomed Newbold-on-Avon to Bodicote Park on Saturday last in a league fixture that promised much. Earlier in the season, Newbold had edged ahead in the final 10 minutes of a close game to win and the Bulls were now looking to get revenge. Banbury made a number of changes across both forwards and backs and had a slightly unsettled air going into the game, but on a beautiful spring day a large crowd, bolstered by a vocal (and tuneful) travelling support saw an entertaining game that produced no less than eight tries.

It was Newbold who were the first to trouble the scorers when a blindside attack broke the defensive line and some weak covering tackles allowed an easy run in to break the deadlock. This was followed some 5 minutes later by another score to the visitors. The two sides had looked relatively evenly-matched and as Banbury looked to unleash their backline from in their own half, the Newbold defence turned the ball over and put one of their men into space. With the Bulls set up to attack there was simply no defenders back to counter this and another easy run in gave the visitors a comfortable lead.

But despite giving up easy scores again, Banbury were not out of the game and some smart counter-rucking work of their own lead to their opening score. An excellent kick chase and tackle by centre Adam Walsh saw the Newbold winger caught in possession just inside his own half. As the rest of the chasers piled into the resulting ruck, Banbury secured quick turnover ball and with the defence in disarray centre James Heywood found himself with just one man to beat. Breaking through the tackle he showed his pace to run in from 30 metres out, and Banbury were back in the match.

However there was to be no further score from the Bulls who conceded a kickable penalty and then with the half drawing to a close they got hit with a sucker punch. Again the Bulls looked to ship the ball wide near the halfway line, but whilst looking to offload out of the tackle, the ball went loose only to be scooped up by the Newbold centre who was the third player to have an unopposed run in for the visitors. With that score, the half-time whistle went and Banbury found themselves 22-7 down.

Things looked bleak and it could have become worse had not Banbury stepped up their play and started to exert some real pressure. After repeated attacks by the forwards in the Newbold 22 were repulsed the ball was finally sent out to the backs, where some smart handling put Walsh in a modicum of space. The centre had to show all his strength and power to crash through two attempted tacklers and barge over the line for the Bulls second try.

Newbold were to spend much of the second half in their own territory, but on the few forays they did make into the Bulls 22 they came away with points. Firstly another successful penalty goal and then some smart running from the Newbold centres saw them scythe through the Bulls backline from halfway and get their try-scoring bonus point. Banbury needed to respond quickly to keep themselves in the game and they duly did so. From the restart, Newbold failed to gather the ball cleanly and flanker Dan Boys was on hand to fly-hack the ball ahead and into the Newbold in-goal area. With the foot race on, the Newbold winger seemed to have it covered but an awkward bounce allowed Boys to dive for the loose ball. The referee decided that the Banbury man had got his hand to the ball first and Banbury were still in with a chance.

With three tries already to their credit, Banbury went looking first for a bonus point and then for the final score that would snatch victory. As the half progressed, the game loosened up and the home side responded better to these conditions. A smart blindside move saw Banbury break the line and put Heywood into space on the Newbold 22. With the cover defence streaming across, the young centre dived for the corner to score and get Banbury there bonus point.

Heywood’s try was to be the last score of the game as Banbury were unable to get the second bonus point and Newbold held on for their win. Banbury travel to Old Laurentians this coming weekend looking to build on a positive second half performance.