Banbury had beaten Chippenham 24-25 and 34-35 the last two times they had visited Allington Fields and it another thrilling encounter Saturday. The early indications were that Banbury would continue 2019 how they finished 2018. The pack were dominant early on and Chippenham conceded penalty after penalty. The pressure eventually told when a 5-metre scrum was pushed up to the Chippenham line and Ed Berridge touched the ball down. Ed Phillips converted to give the Bulls an early 0-7 lead.

Within minutes Banbury were scoring again. Sam Stoop put boot to ball with a lovely kick and Tommy Gray was the beneficiary of a kind bounce of the ball as he gathered and sprinted his way over to the left of the sticks. Ed Phillips converted, Chippenham 0 Banbury 14.

Any thoughts this match would be like Chippenham’s visit to Banbury earlier in the season (53-19 win for Banbury) quickly evaporated when a youthful Chippenham side scored 3 quick tries to take the lead. Matt Dickens sprinted his way over from range after Chippenham worked a nice 2 on 1. Gareth Angel showed good skill to work his way through some sloppy defending from Banbury before releasing Tom Fogerty to score under the posts. Both converted. And finally, Jacob Unwin made a great break (with some more dodgy defending) before offloading to Charlie Quarren-Evans who sprinted his way down the sideline to score in the corner. The conversion attempt fell short, but Chippenham had the lead 19-14.

Jack Johnson, sports reporter for the Oxford Mail, highlighted Ed Berridge as one of the players to watch out for in 2019 and he showed why when he scored his second try of the game. Banbury’s scrum dominated for 80 minutes and Ed Berridge’s second try was a near repeat of his first. The pack getting him close, before he burst his way over from short range, spinning his way out a couple tackles. Ed Phillips converted to put Banbury back in front 19-21.

Sam Stoop extended the lead for Banbury. A penalty got Banbury deep into Chippenham territory and a couple phases later Jack Briggs popped a pass to Sam Stoop who was running a lovely line to carve his way through the Chippenham defence. Still with plenty to do the fly-half stepped his way past one more defender before scoring out to the left. Ed Phillips kept his 100% record with the boot. Chippenham 19 Banbury 28.

Chippenham started the second half with an early score. Banbury were penalised although it was hard to see what for close to their own line. Jacob Unwin didn’t wait to find out why though, taking a quick penalty before working his way through the retreating defence to score close to the sticks. Louis Ayliffe converted to reduce the gap to 26-28.

Chippenham took the lead when Jacob Unwin scored in the corner. Banbury could have argued there was some obstruction in the build up but in truth it was poor defending again from the Banbury boys. The conversion went wide. 31-28.

Oli Alcorn was next to exploit some more poor defending from the Bulls. Working his way through the Banbury line far to easily before scoring out to the left. Louis Ayliffe converted to extend the gap and a penalty a couple minutes later had Chippenham firmly in control, 41-28.

Going so far behind seemed to kick something into gear for Banbury and as Chippenham taunted and drew the Bulls into an ill-tempered finish, a fired up Bulls team started a remarkable comeback with minutes remaining. Banbury kicked a penalty to the corner and the pack worked the ball brilliantly to the Chippenham line before Ed Phillips took the ball and darted over from close range. If Banbury were to win, a crucial conversion was to follow. Despite the need to get the game restarted as quickly as possible Ed Phillips nailed a tricky conversion to reduce the lead to 6 points, 41-35.

The Bulls pushed for an unexpected winner. Banbury made a good break down the left but when the ball fell loose, first Tom Burman then Ed Phillips did incredibly to keep the ball in play and rebound it off a Chippenham player for a Banbury lineout in the Chippenham 22. The Bulls won the lineout before switching the ball to the opposite flank. Jed Boyle cut in off his wing before finding Sam Stoop, who was running another lovely line to burst his way through the Chippenham defence before cutting inside to score under the posts. Ed Phillips converted to make it 41-42 and complete an incredible comeback for Banbury. Chippenham restarted but Banbury gathered and kicked the ball out to bring up the final whistle.

A thrilling encounter with an incredible finale. Banbury were sluggish for long periods and there was certainly a Christmas/New Year hangover. But 5 points may be crucial at the end of the season and Banbury showed incredible resolve to finish in the way they did. Sam Stoop and Ed Phillips were selected as Banbury’s Men of the Match. The 19 club had great games. Sam Stoop scoring two great tries at crucial times. Ed Phillips had a perfect day with the boot and a score of his own but what really stood out was the motivating of his team mates. He refused at any point to think Banbury were going to lose and lifted the boys any time heads dropped. His second to last conversion came with incredible pressure and made the comeback possible.

Speaking to Head Coach, Matt Goode, after the game:
41-42, it’s 5 points but I imagine that wasn’t the performance you were after today? “Not at all, that was a really poor performance. We weren’t good at all. We went up early on by 14 points and then we were arrogant. That arrogance cost us a lot. Defensively we were poor. After a festive period it’s slightly understandable. I think we were thinking about some of the games coming up against some of the teams near the top of the league and not fully focused on today. They played some good rugby but we didn’t have that want or desire in defence today.”

Did you get drawn into their gameplan more than your own today? It was a bit of an ill-tempered one, things off the ball etc. “I just think it was an off game for us. We were lucky to come away with 5 points, but we’ll definitely be better next week.”

Not the performance you were after but to win by a point for the third year in a row with the last play has to give the squad a big boost? “Definitely, there were some good performances. I thought Ed Phillips played well. Sam Stoop played well. Nick Pratt had a big impact off the bench. It’s good to get the win but we’ll draw a line under the performance.”

Big game against Marlborough coming up, do you think the next few weeks could decide your season? “Marlborough will be huge. It’s a massive game for the club so I’d like as much support as possible. The 16th man always make a difference and we’ll need it next Saturday. It doesn’t matter who we play we’ve got to win and as we’ve seen today all teams in the league are dangerous.”

Banbury Scorers:
Tries: Ed Berridge (2) Sam Stoop (2) Tommy Gray, Ed Phillips.
Conversions: Ed Phillips (6)