With a pre-Christmas cancellation from Reading Abbey (the 3rd of this season), a timely game offer from Gosford All Blacks allowed the squad to get a game under their Christmas expanded belts (what? ... just the coaches then!).

Full respect to the three combined teams - GAB, Didcot and Littlemore U13s - who show a fantastic commitment to keeping age grade rugby alive in their clubs and their players in the sport by playing fixtures together. This does make it a difficult task from a teamwork and cohesiveness viewpoint.

With 14 players available to our hosts, Banbury had an overall advantage fielding a full team and 7 subs/a full squad of half-gamers/impact players/finishers/etc. With some innovative and player focussed adaptions, the teams were kept equally balanced down to 11 a side due to injuries in order to maintain fairness of competition.

From the kick off, the increasing structure and game management allowed Banbury to build territory and possession. The pre-game focus on halfback communication was heard to good effect and the pack made some significant in-roads around the breakdown!

Even against some stiff defence, the U13s raced into a two try lead in the opening minutes. With a strong hold on the game, Banbury pressed through a number of phases but following some good counter rucking, one unopposed clear out allowed GAB/D/L to steal the ball against play, with the Littlemore player managing to evade the three chasing defenders to give the hosts a morale boosting try and narrow the deficit to 5 points.

With play becoming looser towards the end of the half, handling errors become more frequent (from both sides) - SCRUM TIME - the pack continued their strong form with the continuing focus on individual and collective technique. A major positive and commendation for the forwards who won every scrum, even against the head.

Highlights of H1 - Perky's show-and-go to break the gain line (highlight of the day) - the look, the hands, the confused defender as the prop went past his inside shoulder! Talan's fielding the host's clearing kick and slicing through 4 defenders to the line, which only just pips Charlie’s hard inside line, two jumps, a hop, one pirouette and a smash through two players to score.

With half time allowing the players to assess their first half performance, the second half saw a renewed effort and a greater use of the ball. Banbury started to move the ball quicker, with less power play phases which allowed the backline more space and time. In quick succession, Banbury scored another few tries working the ball to the wings with Callum making several 40 metre breaks and Torin winding past five defenders to score.

With continuous one-way traffic, the hosts' teamwork and cohesiveness suffered. With an offered impromptu coaching break taken, the combined team regained composure and set back into Banbury with renewed zeal. With another firm grip on the game, laziness set into some of the Banbury players which culminated in defensive line errors and lack of defensive cover (not that we haven't worked on it in the last few sessions but perhaps those players weren't on the training pitch). With the majority of the team strolling across the pitch, our new forward Alex H, almost produced a great try saving tackle; tracking the hosts rapid centre and was just unable to hold him to complete his tackle (good signs - we will always applaud commitment and determination!).

With a second try against the run of play, Banbury again reset and got back to their task. A jinking break through midfield saw Aidan score. Another break down the left wing saw the host's captain receive a yellow card for a kick against the Banbury ball carrier (the 5 minutes halved to ensure the level of competition remained fair). With the penalty awarded, Aidan's crossfield kick took out the defensive line, allowing Callum to collect in front of the try line and offload to Archie for the score (justification for his running support lines). The penultimate try fell to Callum who, despite a slap to the head, weaved through a handful of defenders to dab down. Final score of the day went to Big Joe - a well-deserved try for the forwards given the pack's performance.

Highlights of H2 - Torin's jinking run to score. Aidan's crossfield kick.

MoM (awarded by GAB Head Coach) - Aidan