This would be the first time Banbury and Sherborne have played against each other. Sherborne are new to the league after winning promotion last season but had picked up an impressive 7 wins from 10 games so far. It would also be Banbury’s longest away trip of the season with a 130 mile each way journey less than ideal preparation.

Banbury made 8 changes to last weekends team as injuries and unavailability’s started to stack up for the Bulls. Joel Thomas made his full debut after impressing off the bench last week and Dan Kirwin started at 9 for the first time this season.

The opening 20 minutes were pretty even with Banbury slightly shading possession and territory. The scrum was fiercely contested with both sides working hard to gain an advantage. Reset scrum after reset scrum was to follow. Fun for the front row, but painful for the average supporter looking for some flowing rugby.

Matt Shea was yellow carded for Sherborne after picking up a number of penalties in the opening half an hour. Banbury were awarded a penalty after Sherborne’s replacement scrum half kicked the ball out the back of a scrum. Ed Phillips stepped up to slot through the posts. 0-3.

No sooner were Banbury ahead than Sherborne were levelling the scores. The Bulls were penalised for crossing and Rhodri Hopkins was on target with the boot. 3-3.

Dan Brady scored Banbury’s only try of the game when he crossed in the corner. Jack Briggs reacted to a quick high press from the Sherborne line by delicately chipping over the top and Dan Brady simply had too much pace to beat his opponents to the ball and touch down out wide. Ed Phillips converted from the side-line to make it 3-10.

Ed Phillips kicked another penalty in the opening minutes of the second half to extend Banbury’s lead. Sherborne penalised for hands in the ruck. 3-13.

Tom Macdonald was yellow carded for Banbury after coming in at the side of a ruck a couple metres from his own try line. Sherborne took full advantage of the extra man with a try in the righthand corner. Good work from Henry Hodgson saw Sherborne break down the right flank before offloading inside to Owen Williams for the score in the corner. Rhodri Hopkins was off target with the conversion, 8-13.

Banbury increased the lead back to two scores after a huge penalty kick from Ed Phillips. Doug Backhouse was taken out in the air while being lifted for a lineout and Ed Phillips was on target from long range. 8-16.

Sherborne narrowed the lead immediately from the restart. Banbury were penalised being for being accidently offside attempting to gather the ball at the restart. Rhodri Hopkins kicked the resulting penalty to make it 11-16.

Toby O’Loughlin was yellow carded for Sherborne after kneeing Ed Phillips in the head in an off the ball incident. Ed Phillips picked himself to kick the resulting penalty and increase the lead to 11-19.

Banbury were penalised for being offside with a couple minutes left in the game and Sherborne elected to take the points and push for a winning score in the final minutes. Rhodri Hopkins kicking the penalty, 14-19.

Sherborne pushed for a late score, but Banbury’s defence had them pinned in their own half before eventually forcing a player in to touch to bring up the full-time whistle. A good win for the Bulls against a strong Sherborne side. A tough place to travel to and easily Banbury’s longest away trip of the season. The boys that came in performed well and the strength in depth of the Bulls squad has been really impressive. Ed Phillips was selected as Banbury’s Man of the Match. Ed had a perfect day with the boot, adding 14 points, but his game management stood out above everything. Controlling the speed of the game. Pinning Sherborne in to their 22 with well placed kicks to the corner and a number of line breaks getting the Bulls on the front foot.

Speaking to Matt Goode after the game:

14-19, not a classic but a good win on a tough away trip. Are you happy with the result?
“Yeah a great win. The W always looks good when you’re looking at the table. For me I think we made too many mistakes. We weren’t savvy enough when we needed to be. They were probably a little bit more rugby savvy. But hey, to get 4 points on the road all the way down here is decent.”

8 changes this weekend, you had 8 changes the game before. Do you think all those changes have an impact on some of the performances? And do you think the squad depth this year means we’ve won some games this year we might have lost in previous seasons?
“Yeah definitely. Again 8 changes from last week shows what we are and what we can do. Out of those 8 changes I think 7 of them have come through our youth section. As a club we’re doing really well with 1st team, 2nd team and 3rd team. I think to travel 2 and a half hours plus and control the game was outstanding.”

A change of pace next weekend with a cup game against Henley. Not a team we know too much about. Banbury have had great success in the cup in recent years. How much of an emphasis will you be putting on that game?
“We want to win. We want to win every game we play. We’ll assess the squad. Maybe we’ll bring in some fresh faces again. You’re allowed more subs in the cup so it’s a chance for us to include some more of the boys. We’re looking forward to it and seeing how far we can go in the cup again.”

The 2’s have had an incredible start to their season. Will this be an opportunity for some of them to show what they can do?
“Yeah, I think so. I think we do already to be honest. If you look how many boys have played this season. We’ve got some young lads like Keiran Fitzgibbon and Tom Burman who started the season for the 2’s and both started for the Bulls today. We’re making sure everyone at the club is getting good game time. I don’t think we’ll be treating next weekend any different to any of our other games. We’ll give some young guys some experience, but we’ll also balance that with some old heads in reserve as well.”

Points Scorers:
Tries: Dan Brady
Conversion: Ed Phillips
Penalties: Ed Phillips (4)

15. Tommy Gray (Sponsored by: Edd Frost & Daughters)
14. Tom Burman
13. Duncan Leese (Captain) (Sponsored by Wednesday Strollers)
12. Jack Briggs (Sponsored by: Parkinsons Master Thatchers)
11. Dan Brady (Sponsored by: Allsafe Scaffolding)
10. Ed Phillips (Sponsored by: P Montanaro – ITSM Consultancy)
9. Dan Kirwin (Sponsored by: Hollywood Bowl)

1. James Leonardi (Sponsored by: Tim Varney)
2. James Jennings
3. Tom Eyston
4. Will Thurlow
5. Doug Backhouse
6. Joel Thomas
7. Tom Macdonald (Sponsored by Liberis)
8. Keiran Fitzgibbon (Sponsored by: Heaven & Stubbs)

Replacements:
16. Ken Key (Sponsored by: Lockwoods Ski and Outdoor)
17. Felix Marot
18. Joe Mills (Sponsored by: DTC International)