Banbury took to the field against Aylestone St James with a relatively similar team to that which struggled to see off Lutterworth the previous week. The pack was shuffled around rather than significantly changed as Mathew Shepley moved back from prop to start in the second-row, Liam Stratford begun the game at hooker, with Andy Ell moving to the blind-side. In the backs a late injury pull-out by Dave Taylor saw more reshuffling for the Bulls. Guy Sturla took to the field at full-back with Jed Boyle and debutant James Heywood on the wings.

During the first 10 minutes the pattern of the game was set. The Banbury pack was able to disrupt much of the opposition ball and prevent Jimmies from gaining any real territory. Indeed for almost the whole first half the ball was in Jimmies territory. However, the home side made heavy weather of converting pressure into points.

Props Andy Gilbert and Michael Boscott were both held up in the first 20 minutes after hitting the ball up close to the line. Excellent defending and wrong option taking led to too many chances going begging. One passage in play demonstrated this perfectly as captain Sean Bannister broke into the Jimmies 22. With support outside him and only the full back to beat, Bannister looked to beat his man rather than pass and was stopped by a great tackle from the Jimmies no.15.

Jimmies continued to repel all the pressure that the Bulls were putting them under and late in the first half, a couple of penalties took them into Banbury territory. The home side conceded yet another penalty, and some unwise backchat to the referee saw the penalty advanced into kickable range. However the visitors were off-target with the kick and were unable to take the lead.

This proved to be the wake up call that Banbury needed and with the clock ticking down in the first half, Banbury declined a shot at goal from a penalty, instead kicking to the corner where a good catch-and-drive from the line-out saw Bannister drive over for the opening score. With the conversion wide the Bulls went in at half-time with a slender 5-0 lead.

The second-half continued in the same vein as Banbury dominated both possession and territory, but struggled to score in the face of some strong Jimmies defending. However the Bulls eventually proved too strong and a series of forward drives created space out wide for full back Sturla to notch try number two for the home team. Again the conversion was wide and Banbury had doubled their lead to 10-0.

It was not to be the last score either as more quick ruck ball was fed out quickly to Boyle on the wing who smartly stepped inside the last defender to touchdown to make it 15-0. The huge defensive effort by Jimmies was starting to take its toll and they began to fall off tackles that they had been making all game. From a shortened line-out 30 metres out, Bannister was able to burst through the initial defence before showing good pace and strength to beat the full-back who had denied him in the first-half to score a superb solo try.

Finding themselves 20-0 down, Jimmies launched a rare attack into Banbury territory, but this came to a sickening end as their influential centre suffered a serious leg-injury. This necessitated the game to be put on hold as the ambulance came to deal with the injury. Banbury Rugby Club would like to wish the Jimmies player a swift and full recovery.

After the disruption caused by the stoppage there was a chance that Banbury would switch off, but normal service was resumed with repeated attacking forays into the Jimmies 22. However it was not until the final play that Banbury were able to get on the scoreboard again when debutant James Heywood beat the cover defence to complete the victory by 25-0.

Once again the pack provided a platform with good performances from the front 5 and Pete Papenfus was brave and direct at fly-half. However Banbury Man-of-the-Match goes to full-back Sturla, who attacked and defended well throughout (despite his recent lack of sleep!)

Banbury can be pleased with the result and aspects of the performance. However they will need to seriously raise their sharpness and finishing skills to come out on top next weekend when they host league title rivals Market Harborough, kick-off 2:15.