Market Harborough came out of the blocks hard and fast and from the off showed a determination to win that left Banbury reeling. Powerful running close to the breakdown from the home forwards saw them keep Banbury on the defence from the start of the game. A number of sloppy mistakes from the Banbury half backs gave excellent field position to Harborough and they were quick to turn the pressure into points. With Banbury slowly forced back to defend their line it was only a matter of time before back-row forward Michael Goode went over for the opening score to the home side.

The Banbury pack soon found themselves on the back foot almost immediately and simply could not cope with the power of the Harborough forwards at scrum time. From a 5 metre scrum the Banbury pack were shunted back over their line to give Harborough number 8, Woodford, an easy score. This time the try was converted by Bale and Banbury found themselves 12-0 down with barely 15 minutes on the clock.

Continuing in the same vein, the Bulls struggled to get their hands on the ball and excellent close in running by the Harborough forwards again took them into the Banbury 22. Another 5 metre scrum saw the Banbury supporters suffering from déjà vu as once again their experienced pack drove the scrum over the line for Woodford to score his second.

The match however went from bad to worse as more mistakes led to the Bulls looking to chase the game from their own half only for centre Adam Walsh’s pass to be intercepted for an easy run in by his opposite number Airey, who dotted down under the posts. The simple kick was converted and with the scoreline of Market Harborough 24 Banbury 0, the Bulls were staring down the barrel of a big defeat.

To their credit, the Bulls seemed to wake up from their shock and started to play some decent rugby, with the backline threatening, but not able to score on a number of occasions. However, it was the visiting forwards who were able to get the Bulls first score with a well worked catch and drive from a lineout allowing captain Sean Bannister to get over the line on the stroke of halftime. Pete Papenfus was off target with the kick, but at least Banbury were on the board with a half-time score of 24-5.

Things soon looked better for the Bulls from the second-half kick off where some good running and support lines from the loose forwards caught the Harborough defenders napping and scrum-half Eddie Phillips was able to power over the line. Papenfus added the extras and things looked different at 24-12. When a blatant punch right in front of the referee by a Market Harborough forward was penalised with (only?) a yellow card, the Bulls seemed to have a spring in their step for a 5 minute spell. Could they pull this one out of the fire?

But it was not to be, with the Bulls replacement hooker also receiving a yellow card evening the teams up to 14 men each Harborough began to reassert their dominance in the set piece. The home side even threw away a golden opportunity to extend their lead by some poor handling with the Banbury line at the mercy of the home backs.

However it was only a brief respite for the Bulls. The Harborough number 8 took advantage of the extra man they briefly had, and the armchair ride he was receiving at scrum time to break down the blind side. There followed some good support running and offloading and winger Tom Bale went over to extend the home side’s lead. With the conversion successfully taken, the scoring came to an end at 31-12 to the home team.

This result should act as a real wake up call to the Banbury squad that they are going to have to work extremely hard to make sure their early season good work is not wasted. The first test of their response to this defeat will be on Saturday when the entertain fourth-placed Northampton BBOB at Bodicote Park, kick off at 2:15pm.