Banbury Under 15s made the trip to the other end of the County for their final pool game in this seasons County Cup competition. Both teams went into the fixture unbeaten in the competition, which suggested a close match with Henley probably starting as slight favourites given their home advantage and being the defending champions.
The game started in the anticipated close fashion, with Henley gaining an advantage in the line-outs and Banbury dominating the scrum. The hosts took the lead with an unconverted try before Banbury hit back with a try from Felix Sissins-Roffey, which was the first points Henley have conceded in this seasons competition. Cian Gerber was unable to add the extras from the conversion into the wind. Banbury extended their lead with tries from Cian Gerber and Charlie Cranley, with Cian Gerber converting the latter, to take the score to 5 - 17. Henley added to their tally with another unconverted try to make the score 10 - 17 at half-time.
The second half continued in a similar vein to the first, with both teams taking the attack to the other. The hosts broke through the Banbury defences to score their third unconverted try to bring the scoreline to within 2 points to set up a tense final quarter. Strong defence from both sides meant that neither side were able to make the decisive breakthrough and the final whistle went with Banbury edging it 15 - 17, the conversion proving crucial.
Thank you to our hosts for their hospitality and for the fantastic travelling support.
The win means we finish this stage on top of Pool 2 which gives us a home draw in the next round against the runners up of Pool 1 on Sunday 12th January 2020.