Banbury RUFC opened their home season on Saturday last by welcoming Bedworth to Bodicote Park. The visitors from Warwickshire had registered a comfortable win the previous week, whilst the Bulls were looking to vastly improve on their performance from their league loss.

The Banbury line-up saw just a few changes with new signing Andrew Chapman replacing the injured Nick Kern at lock, Pete Papenfus starting in the centres and Sam Allen at fullback. With club captain Ed Phillips still sidelined with injury, Number 8 Simon Brand continued to skipper the side.

With bright sunshine flooding down onto Bodicote Park, a swirling breeze took the edge of the otherwise warm September afternoon as the Bulls received the kick-off. Banbury had seemingly taken on board criticism of their play from the previous week and soon established themselves in Bedworth territory. The strong Bedworth pack however were able to disrupt the Bulls scrum and lineout, meaning the backline had to work with somewhat scrappy ball. However when play opened up the Banbury backline looked dangerous, often breaking the gainline and getting behind the Bedworth defence.

Notable breaks first by winger Andrew Joubert and then by Papenfus were snuffed out as the support runners were not quite on hand to take the final pass. Bedworth's defence continued to hold firm as they put pressure on the breakdown area, often disrupting the ball. Soon however this disruption came about illegally and the visitors conceded the first of many penalties around the ruck. Joubert stepped up and kicked the penalty cleanly and Banbury were in front 3-0.

Banbury were soon back in the Bedworth half as strong running from the pack saw them set up good field position. However Banbury were struggling to make the most of their good field position and it seemed the clinical edge was once again missing. This finally changed midway through the first half with an attacking scrum on the Bedworth 22. The Bulls pack dug deep and stayed solid against the Bedworth drive, allowing Brand to pick up from the base and attack the blind side. Beating the Bedworth flanker, the Bulls' Number 8 rode the tackle of the covering winger and offloaded to supporting scrum half, Joe Walton, who ran in unopposed to score in the corner. Joubert then stepped up to nail the difficult touchline conversion and give Banbury a 10-0 lead.

With the clock ticking down Bedworth were able to only make the occassional foray into Banbury territory and were soon back defending in their own half. Another penalty at the breakdown was compounded by backchat to the referee. The additional 10 metres were not needed however as Joubert was once again on target and the Bulls lead stretched to 13-0. In the last flurry of play before half-time Bedworth gave an indication of what they were capable of as the Banbury side were caught napping. Some good angles of running prised open a gap in the solid home defence, but instead of recycling and working more phases, the Bedworth fly-half looked to chip and chase through. Joubert safely took the mark and the half was at an end.

Banbury knew that the visitors would come out strongly and talked about shutting them out at the beginning of the second half. However, once again the break had seemed to send the Bulls to sleep. When a promising attacking move saw Banbury knock the ball on deep in the Bedworth half, there seemed to be little danger. However, Bedworth sprung into life and charged deep into the Bulls half, their strong-running skipper leading the way. Banbury's tackling started to let them down and the scrambling defensive line strayed offside, giving Bedworth a chance to kick for a lineout close to the Bulls line.

Bedworth set up a rolling maul and started towards the Banbury tryline, but the defence seemed to have held the drive up. However the pressure on the defensive line was too much and when Banbury gave up a penalty 5 metres from their line, the visiting scrum-half saw the opportunity. Taking the quick tap, he dived over the line before the defence could retreat to open the Bedworth account. The conversion was pushed wide, but Bedworth were back in the game at 13-5.

The visitors sensed their opportunity had come and pressed the home side hard. But, having given up tries so easily the previous week, the Banbury defensive line held firm time and again. Blindside flankerAnt McClellan lead the way with some bone-crunching takling, with his openside partner, Will Brooks proving to be a serious nuisance at the breakdown time and again. When Bedworth won a penalty in the Banbury half and opted to go for posts, it seemed that the balance of the game shifted once again. The penalty kick went wide and Banbury were able to clear their lines and go on the attack once again.

After all their attacking possession, Bedworth found themselves on the back foot once again with little to show for it. Once again, pressure at the breakdown saw the visitors concede a penalty and Joubert step up to take the kick. However this time, he was just wide with his attempt, but Bedworth were unable to clear their lines from the resulting 22 drop out. Another breakdown saw another penalty conceded and Banbury stretched their lead to 16-5 through Joubert's boot once again.

Neither side were to trouble the scoreboard in the remaining few minutes and Banbury took their first win of the season by 16-5. Coach James Kerr was happy to take the victory but was keen to point out that there was still work to be done. The Bulls first half pressure should have led to more points on the board and the second half restart needs attention. However the dogged defence displayed in the second period, exemplified by Man of the Match Ant McClellan, was a clear step up from the previous week.

Banbury will look to continue their improvement at home to Aston Old Edwardians in the RFU Intermediate Cup this Saturday, kick off 2:30pm.