Bodicote Park - Saturday 20th April 2013

Match report by Bob Mitchelmore.

Any thoughts that the Bulls would have an easy afternoon against already relegated, Upton-on-Severn were quickly dispelled with the visitors putting on a spirited display, and whilst the scoreboard would indicate a comfortable win for the Bulls it was anything but.

From the first whistle Banbury were penned in their own half with Upton retaining the ball well and going through the phases. Determined defence kept the Banbury line intact and eventually the seige was lifted, and the backs, with flyhalf Jed Boyle to the fore started to find holes in the Upton defence leading to the opening try with fullback, David Taylor crossing at the posts leaving Peter Papenfus with an easy conversion.

Banbury continued to find fluency elusive but always looked dangerous on the counter attack and extended their lead when flanker, Chris Phillips, who was a force in both attack and defence throughout the game, went on a rampaging run shrugging off several attempted tackles to score by the posts. Before half time the impressive Boyle crossed for a fine individual try to give Banbury a comfortable 21-0 lead at the break.

Upton, to their credit, were far from a spent force and continued to harry the Bulls into errors dominating both possession and territory and were rewarded with a try in the corner to reduce the deficit.

The breakdown area continued to cause problems for the Bulls where either the ball was turned over or a penalty conceded, However a counter attack from deep in their own half led to a second try for Phillips converted by the reliable Papenfus to make the game safe and secure a bonus point.

Even with the game lost Upton continued to apply pressure on the Banbury line but determined defence kept the Bulls line intact and secure the win that saw them leapfrog local rivals, Leamington, in the league table.

The Bulls round up their season next Saturday with the rearranged league game against title chasing Old Laurentians at Bodicote Park, and will be looking to up their game to finish on a high note.