Banbury kept pace at the top of the table with a 3-34 victory away at Frome. A man of the match performance from Tommy Gray and the return of Pete Boulton after over two years on the side lines with injury helped the Bulls secure all the points.

The Bulls were forced into a number of changes from last weekend’s impressive victory versus Chippenham. However, there was a very welcome return with Pete Boulton on the bench for his first Bulls appearance since April 2019 after recovering from a serious knee injury he suffered playing for Oxfordshire.

Storm Malik was in full force by kick off but with the wind going directly across the pitch meant that no team had a real advantage with the conditions. Darrel Thompson kicked Frome into an early lead after Banbury were penalised for being offside, 3-0.

Tommy Gray gave Banbury the lead with a fine solo effort for the opening try. Beating two men before diving over out to the left of the posts. Conversion missed, 3-5. Both teams had their chances in an entertaining first half, but no more points would be added to the scoreboard.
The Bulls task was made harder after Will Thurlow received a yellow card for a high tackle. Despite being a man down the Bulls extended the lead with another try though. It took four men to bring down Big Pete and with the defenders trying to regroup the backs switched the ball to the opposite flank. Tommy Gray playing in Dan Brady who beat his opposite man for a score in the corner. Conversion missed, 3-10.

15 vs 14 quickly became 15 vs 13 after Pete Boulton was harshly carded for another high tackle from Banbury. The Bulls weathered the storm with two less men though and continued their strong second half. The Banbury backs counter attacked following a knock on and went from their own 22 to a Tom Burman try. Dan Brady broke down the left wing and chipped behind. Burman hacked the ball on before diving and getting the smallest of touches to down the ball over the line. Conversion missed, 3-15.

The restart after the try didn’t go the required 10m handing the Bulls a scrum on the halfway line. The backs used this platform to attack with Quinten Blythe playing Tommy Gray through a hole in the Frome Defence. Gray drew the last man before getting the ball back to Blythe who outsprinted the cover defence and scored in the corner. Conversion missed, 3-20.

Frome were temporarily reduced to 14 men after Banbury looked like they might be in again. Tom Burman was tripped with a stray boot to stop the attack though. Burman unfortunately being forced off with injury from the incident.

The Bulls kicked to the corner and won the resulting lineout. The forwards worked a rolling maul into the opposition 22 before Ian Isham burst off the back, broke two tackles and dived over for a great individual score. Converted, 3-27.

As Frome tired, Banbury kept up the pressure and with a little over ten minutes left finished the scoring with another try. Ian Isham playing in Pete Boulton who beat two men before diving his way over under the posts for the fairy-tale score on his return. Big Pete has worked incredibly hard to recover from the knee injury he suffered playing for County and at many times probably wondered if he’d be able to play again. To score on his return and have all his teammates run over and celebrate with him was brilliant to see. Converted, 3-34.

Both teams had chances in the final stages, but the scores would remain the same at the full-time whistle. An entertaining game of rugby. Both teams put in big defensive shifts and Frome showed a lot of heart that should see them pick up some upsets over the remaining games of the season. Tommy Gray was selected as Banbury’s man of the match. Tommy had a hand in many of the tries and constantly looked a danger with ball in hand. He marshalled the defence well and certainly was a difference maker in tricky conditions. Next week Banbury travel to Beaconsfield in a re-arranged fixture from before Christmas.

Match Stats:
Tries: Tommy Gray, Dan Brady, Tom Burman, Quinten Blythe, Ian Isham and Pete Boulton
Conversions: Ed Phillips (2)