Having never been to Evesham RFC this was a new experience for all of us. It was well worth the trip.

Sat nav let us all down and left the team looking around Evesham before we discovered the one lane road to the club.

The usual friendly welcome and after the warm up we were down to business.

As Banbury had brought more players than our opponents we were going to play 4 lots of 15 mins. It kind of worked out like that but in the scheme of things it didnt really matter.

What we had were two well matched sides who left it all on the pitch. Although the scoreline was low this didn’t reflect the effort from both sides or indeed the rugby on offer.

As befits losing semifinalists in their county cup competiton we saw good attacking and defensive drills from Evesham throughout.

The match ebbed and flowed with no team getting the upper hand. Both goal lines were threatened but the breakthroughs just couldn’t be found.

Evesham scored first from a defensive error and Banbury reciprocated with muscular drive to bully over the line. Neither was converted as they were both scored close to the touchline. Another measure of the excellent defense and the sheer hard work the forwards of both teams put in.

The ref was consistent and friendly (all you can ask) and came out with a classic line when challenged by the players “Dont tell me how to play, I am welsh”. This with a great smile on his face and he controlled the game well.

Let’s hope we can get another fixture. It was a great game.