Banbury Bulls win again to set up early top-of-the-table clash with Bracknell

Banbury made it two wins from two games with a scrappy 40-12 victory over Beaconsfield. A man of the match performance from Tommy Gray helped the Bulls secure all the points, writes Alex Inch.

With both teams picking up wins on the opening day, Saturday promised to be an entertaining contest.

Dan Brady re-signed for the club in the week and within two minutes of his return to action for Banbury, he scored the opening try after some good work from the backs.

Beaconsfield took the lead after exploiting some poor defending from the Bullsbut the home side dominated the remainder of the first half.

Quinten Blythe has had a stunning start to his young rugby career, and it was his great footwork that created the space for Duncan Leese to score Banbury’s second try. Tommy Gray, who was a constant threat from deep made it two tries in two games for 19-7 at half time.

Tom MacDonald secured a four-try bonus point for Banbury when he darted his way through a small gap and although the away side came back with a try, Banbury were firmly in control with two late tries.

First Chris Davies driving over at the back of a rolling maul after good work from the forward pack. The forwards would continue to impress and won a scrum against the head which allowed Jacob Mills to dive on a loose ball over the try line.

James Miller had another impressive day with the boot. Converting five of the six tries.

A good result but the Bulls will know that tougher challenges lie ahead and will need to be more clinical if they’re to fight for the South West 1 East title this season.

Head Coach, Matt Goode, was happy with how they defended and the forwards dominated the scrums, but not so pleased with the number of mistakes throughout the side.

This weekend brings an early top of the table clash against recently relegated Bracknell.

“This will show where we are,” said Goode. “ If we’re title contenders or not. They’re going to be very strong. They’ll bring an element of surprise to the way they play. We don’t know much about them.

“We’ll focus more on what we need to improve than them. “We’ve got a lot to improve on. If we get that right we’re in for a good game.”