The visitors this weekend were Old Centralians. Coming into this weekend Cents saw themselves 6th in the league table with 3 home wins and 2 away losses. Cents started brightly, striking the post with a drop goal effort but it was Banbury who really took hold of the early stages.

After winning a penalty Banbury kicked for the corner. The pack looked like they’d got the opening score after winning the resulting lineout but the referee indicated the ball had been held up. This didn’t keep back Banbury for long though. From the resulting scrum Sam Stoop whipped the ball wide, Tommy Gray drew the last man before slipping George Grieve into the corner for the opening try. Joe Mills missed the side-line conversion attempt but Banbury had an early lead 5-0.

Banbury extended the league with a nice counter attacking move. Freddie Cracknell turned the ball over before using his pace to counter at speed. Freddie Cracknell drew the last man before passing inside to Tommy Gray who ran in untouched under the posts. Joe Mills converted to make it 12-0.

Matt Goode saw yellow for a high tackle. The player had been toe tapped just before the tackle and was on his way down before contact with Matt Goode. Cents were quick to exploit the man advantage. After winning a scrum 10 metres out the Number 8 snuck his way down the blind side before offloading to Soloman Farrar who touched down wide to the right of the posts. Shay Morgan added the extras to reduce the gap to 12-7.

Joe Mills kicked a penalty to make it 15-7 after some great defensive work from the Bulls saw Cents penalised for holding on in their own 22.

Cents narrowed the gap with a man advantage after a defensive howler. Lewis May selling a great dummy before some questionable defending saw the winger run in under the posts unopposed. Shay Morgan added the extras to bring them back within a point 15-14.

Banbury were back up to a full XV and scored again just before halftime. Jacob Mills made a lovely break before offloading to older brother Joe Mills who touched down wide to the right. Joe Mills couldn’t add the extras but Banbury held a 20-14 lead at halftime.

Cents kicked off the 2nd half the stronger. A penalty saw them with a lineout 5 metres out. From the resulting lineout the backs got it wide. Shay Morgan made a nice break before offloading out the back of his hand before Italo Carbjal touched down in the corner. The conversion was missed but the gap was narrowed to 20-19.

Cents took their first lead of the match with the best try of the game. From a scrum Cents executed a lovely move, initially getting the ball wide before switching the play back inside to the on-rushing Shay Morgan. Finding himself one on one with his opposite number he chipped the ball over the last defender, regathered himself and touched down just to the right of the posts. Shay Morgan converted his own try to make it 20-26.

Banbury responded well though, Nick Pratt made a charging run, bursting his way through the Cents defence before being held up 5 metres out. Ed Phillips got the ball out quickly to Pete Boulton and despite 3 defenders hanging off him he crashed his way under the posts. The tighthead looked delighted to get his first try in a Banbury shirt. Joe Mills converted to put Banbury back in-front 27-26.

These proved to be the last points but the drama was far from over. Cents looked like they’d bundled there way over under the posts but the referee indicated he couldn’t give the try as he hadn’t seen it. Banbury conceded a very kickable penalty at the resulting scrum but despite having a brilliant game Shay Morgan pushed his kick wide. Cents desperately tried to get the points that would win them the game but Banbury defended brilliantly until the final whistle.

Not Banbury’s best performance of the season but another 5 points leaves them joint top of the table. Freddie Cracknell was awarded Man of the Match after the game. Some brilliant runs from deep for the pacey winger and a lovely turnover and assist for the Tommy Gray try.

Speaking to Matt Goode after the game: “We got the 5 points but we didn’t play that well. But most importantly we’ve kept the winning ways at home. We’ll definitely be going through the video on Tuesday to see how we can improve.”

On the boy’s mental strength at the end in a close contest: “Really could have gone either way, not sure how Cents missed that penalty at the end but we’ve ground out a win. We’ve not played to our potential and we’ve beaten a good side so it’s a good result.”

On what went wrong/why Banbury didn’t perform: “There were a lot of individual errors which shouldn’t happen. Generally, as a collective we don’t usually make that many errors. It was across the board 1-15 little things didn’t go the way we wanted it.

On next week’s cup game against Oxford Brookes: “It’ll be good to see some of the boys who’ve been performing in the 2’s to come up and show me what they’ve got and what they’ve learnt through the year. There will be a few changes but not too many as we want to keep the structure and the winning way but we’ll take Oxford Brookes like we would any other game and focus on the win.”

Try scorers: George Grieve, Tommy Gray, Joe Mills and Pete Boulton.

Banbury line-up:

15. Tommy Gray (Sponsored by: Edd Frost & Daughters)
14. George Grieve
13. Jimmy Manley (Sponsored by: Godiva Insurance)
12. Matt Goode (Sponsored by: Hook Norton Crop Consultancy)
11. Freddie Cracknell (Sponsored by: F M & P Consultancy)
10. Sam Stoop (Sponsored by: H Colegrave & Son)
9. Joe Mills (Sponsored by: DTC International)

1. Ken Key
2. Joe Winpenny
3. Pete Boulton
4. Sam Carr Archer
5. Kallum Dixey
6. Niall Morrow
7. Jacob Mills
8. Angus Johnson

Replacements:

16. Steve Potter
17. Nick Pratt
18. Ed Phillips (Sponsored by: P Montanaro – ITSM Consultancy)