Banbury made it 10 wins from 11 games with a 12-69 victory versus Sherborne. Hat-tricks from Quinten Blythe and Jack Anderson helped secure all the points for Banbury.

Banbury were forced into a number of changes in the backs but were still able to put out a strong side for the trip to Sherborne. The Bulls left Banbury with snow falling and the wind howling. Three hours sat on a bus with the heating stuck on full blast sounded quite enjoyable to begin with. We can assure you, it was not. After one hour it was getting a little bit too warm. After two hours the shirts started to come off and by the third hour it was akin to a Finnish sauna. Not ideal preparation for a game played close to freezing with some serious wind chill.

The Bulls rattled through a tiny warm up and there certainly wasn’t time to overthink anything before kicking off. When Sherborne scored the opening try you worried Banbury’s dodgy bus trip may come back to haunt them. Henry Hodgson offloading to Craig Jones for a score under the posts, converted. 7-0.

Banbury came back well though, Callum Horne pounced on a tipped ball in a lineout to cruise over for an easy score, conversion missed. Shortly after Quinten Blythe would finish off a nice move from the backs when he dived over in the corner. James Miller with a lovely conversion considering the conditions, 7-12.

Jack Anderson scored his first of the afternoon following a mistake from his opposite number. With a penalty advantage James Miller attempted a crossfield kick which the opposition winger misjudged, and Anderson gratefully collected and scored. Conversion missed, 7-17.

James Hibbert was yellow carded for Banbury after the Bulls conceded one too many penalties in a scrappy opening half. Sherborne took advantage straight away to kick to the corner and then drive over a rolling maul from the resulting lineout. Jamie Davidson the man to touch down, conversion missed. 12-17.

Unfortunately for the home side that would be their only points of the afternoon as the Bulls would control the rest of the game. Duncan Leese made a lovely solo break to have Sherborne on the back foot. A phase later James Miller found Jack Anderson who stepped his opposite man and scored his second of the game. Conversion missed, 12-22.

Jack Anderson completed his hat-trick with a lovely move from the backs. James Miller picking the perfect pass to put Anderson through a hole just to the right of the posts. Converted, 12-29.

Quinten Blythe scored his second of the afternoon after he dived on a chip behind the Sherborne defence from James Miller for a score under the posts. Converted, 12-36.

The Bulls were flying and as heads dropped for Sherborne, Banbury would finish with a late flurry of tries. Quinten Blythe made a nice break before drawing the last man and playing in Joe Mills for his first try of the season. Mills fully deserving of a try after nearly being on the end of a number of efforts. Oscar Triggs came on for the last 20 minutes and took over the kicking duties, converting his first attempt of the afternoon. 12-43.

Jack Briggs released Quinten Blythe for his hat-trick with a lovely inside pass. Blythe still had plenty to do though from his own half and held of two defenders before sticking on the afterburners for a lovely try. Converted, 12-50.

Duncan Leese had a terrific game, and this was highlighted by the 60m run he made before Jacob Turner’s try. The centre offloading 10m from the line. Turner still had plenty to do though and broke through two tackles before barrelling over the line. Conversion missed, 12-55.

James Hibbert added another straight from the restart, Duncan Leese and Ian Isham both with beautiful offloads to play in Hibbert to the right of the sticks. Converted, 12-62.

The Bulls still had time for one more score and went full flair with some lovely kicking and chasing. Jack Anderson eventually gathering the ball and offloading to Will Thurlow for his first ever try for the Bulls. The successful conversion brought up the full-time whistle. 12-69.

A brilliant performance from Banbury. The match preparation was less than ideal but the Bulls second half was one of their halves of the season so far. Duncan Leese was selected as Banbury’s man of the match. It’s not often two players will score hat-tricks and not get the man of the match, but such was the performance from Duncan. He carried brilliantly and made line break after line break. He never stopped running, right up until the full-time whistle.

Next weekend is the Bulls last home game of 2021 versus Trowbridge. Please get down to Bodicote Park to support the Bulls!

Match Stats:
Tries: Jack Anderson (3) Quinten Blythe (3) Callum Horne, Joe Mills, Jacob Turner, James Hibbert and Will Thurlow
Conversions: James Miller (3) Oscar Triggs (4)