Banbury produced a strong second half display to win 17-54 away at Windsor. A hat-trick of tries from Dan Brady as well as joint man of the match awards for James Miller and Chris Davies helped keep the Bulls top of the table at the halfway point of the season.

Injuries and a disappointing number of unavailability’s meant the Bulls were forced into a number of changes from last weekends victory over Trowbridge. The Bulls squad was still a strong one though, just with many of the Bulls playing out of position.

Angus Johnson got Banbury off to the perfect start with a brilliant solo try. Spotting a half gap, he broke through a pair of tackles before stepping round the opposition full-back and scoring to the right of the posts. James Miller converted, 0-7.

Dan Brady was a last-minute call up after passing a late fitness test and he was on the scoresheet early in the first half. Jacob Mills gathered up a knock on from Windsor and quickly whipped the ball out to Brady on the left wing. With open grass in front of him there was no catching the pacey winger. Converted, 0-14.

The home side responded immediately though and Jack Graves burst through some poor tackling from Banbury to score a fine solo try. Converted, 7-14.

Windsor were fired up by their first try and shortly after had a second one. William Porter driving over from close range. Conversion missed, 12-14.

Matt Goode clearly wasn’t happy with the Bulls first half display as they made a number of uncharacteristic mistakes but a late first half Dan Brady try helped settle the game for the second half. Tommy Gray with an excellent run before playing in Brady down the left wing. Brady still had plenty to do but brilliantly slipped out of a tackle and stepped past the last man. Converted, 12-21.

The Bulls were challenged to find a different gear for the second half, but it was Windsor who would score the first points after the break. Jack Graves barrelling over from close range to score his second try. Conversion missed, 17-21.

Tom Burman produced some brilliant individual magic to bring up Banbury’s try bonus point. Reversing the direction of play Burman beat two players before chipping over the top of the last man and outsprinting the cover defence to score in the left corner. Conversion missed, 17-26.

Dan Brady completed his hat-trick after a brilliant run from Quinten Blythe. Blythe broke through two tackles before dancing his way through the cover defence. As the gaps started to close, he passed inside to Brady who stuck the afterburners on and scored his third of the afternoon in the left corner. Converted, 17-33.

The Banbury pack won a scrum against the head and James Miller reacted quickest to grab the loose ball. Miller quickly chipped ahead and won the sprint to dive on his own kick for his second try of the season. Converted, 17-40.

Ian Isham scored his first try of the season when he drove himself over from close range. There was a long pause while the referee checked to see if the ball had been held up or grounded and the boys looked delighted for the captain when the try was eventually given. Converted, 17-47.

Dan Brady finished off a fine performance when he set up Joe Mills for the final try of the game. Breaking down the left wing before perfectly chipping behind with the outside of the boot to Mills who gathered and scored. Converted, 17-54.

Windsor searched for a late try to secure their own try bonus point, but the Bulls kept them out for a solid victory. Not one of the Bulls best performances of the season but any time you score 50+ points you can’t complain. James Miller and Chris Davies were picked as Banbury’s players of the game. Miller controlled the game throughout and continued to kick fantastically. Both out of hand and from the kicking tee. Chris Davies completely changed the momentum and energy of the game when he came on in the first half. He carried well and fired the Bulls squad into action. Next weekend the Bulls finish off 2021 with an away trip to Beaconsfield.

Match Stats:
Tries: Dan Brady (3) Angus Johnson, Tom Burman, James Miller, Ian Isham and Joe Mills
Conversions: James Miller (7)

Speaking to Matt Goode after the game:
17-54, you clearly weren’t happy in sections of that game but a strong second half and another 5 points for the Bulls. How are you feeling after that one?
“We’ll take the bonus point win. I thought we were poor in most assets of the game. It’s frustrating, you’d think when we score fifty points, we’d be happy but we’re really not. I thought we were sluggish, slow to get to the ball. I’m not impressed with what we did today. The result was good, but the performance was not. The start wasn’t good enough. I’ll have a look at myself and how we prepared for this game. We need to perform better.”

Do you think it was the number of changes that made the biggest difference or were you disappointed by individual performances?
“The availability this week was shocking. We need to have a look at ourselves with that. Players need to be available for every game. We’ve usually got fierce competition for every position, and we didn’t this week. It’s a good win but it doesn’t feel like that. Until Dan Brady became available, I was in the starting line-up after training on Thursday. He was fantastic so I’m glad he was okay to play.”

That’s the first half of the season completed. Top of the league. Were you expecting that at the start of the season, or have you surprised yourselves so far?
“I knew we had the squad and the players to challenge. I’m absolutely delighted where we are. There’s some really strong teams in this league and after such a long gap away from the game you don’t know where you stand until you start playing competitive fixtures. To be top at the halfway point is a credit to the boys and the depth we got in the squad. We’ve got a big game against Beaconsfield next week then after Christmas we’ve got a huge game versus Bracknell. That’s our one blemish on this season so far and we don’t want to let them do the double on us.”