Losing one player before kick-off, 16 men pulled on the black shirts and headed over to Banbury’s second pitch in gorgeous sunshine – perfect conditions for the entertaining game of rugby that was about to unfold. It was the home team who opened the scoring, pouncing on a loose ball that had squeezed out GAB’s full back’s hands following a strong Banbury kick chase. With the conversion cannoning off the upright, Banbury took a 5-0 lead.

The home team scored again – earning good field position from another kick (this one lost in the blinding sun), Banbury played the phase play well, keeping possession until eventually crossing. Interestingly, the young (and generally excellent) referee timed the kicker out leaving the score at 10-0.

Gosford then started to get some good possession. Strong carries from the likes of debutants Ed Bingham & Jack Burns as well as the usual source of Ed Clarke. GAB did get onto the scoreboard when they earned a penalty in the Banbury half which was stroked over by Alfie Morton 10-3

From the restart GAB struck again immediately. The kick was taken by Rob Eynon who found Jack Burns who set off up-field through the broken chase before eventually being dragged down on Banbury’s 22. From there GAB set up a series of attacks which eventually resulted in Harry Paget driving over by the posts. Alfie Morton converted to being us level at 10-10.

Keeping up the pressure, GAB took the lead with a trademark Ed Clarke try – cutting in on a crash ball from fly half Eynon, he powered through a number of attempted tackles before crashing over. Again Alfie Morton added the extras. 10-17

Gosford lost their dynamic 7 Ethan Baughan who dislocated his shoulder when putting his head in yet another ruck looking for a turnover. We wish him well in his recovery. Half time arrived with no further scores. Terry Coates replaced him, with Liam Park moving to join fellow hooker Bernardo Saez-Benito in the backrow.

Banbury started the 2nd half the better and after a period of extended pressure worked their way down the right flank to dot down in the corner. Excellently converted (and within the allowed 90 seconds this time) from the touch line, Banbury drew level 17-17

GAB took the lead again – this time it was the other centre, skipper Danny Rae, screaming for the ball on a short line and expertly found by Fly half Eynon – Danny scorched through a gap and after being just scragged by the full back offloaded to the supporting Jack Burns for a well deserved debut try. Again Alfie Morton converted 17-24.

This back and forth game saw Banbury score next to tie things up again – their centre pouncing on a bouncing ball in the midfield and able to get away to go under the posts untouched. The easy conversion brought the score to 24-24.

Both teams had chances to win, but great cover defence and an agonising penalty miss from Alfie Morton meant the scoreboard didn’t move, and after some confusion the final whistle was blown – with both teams feeling like they should have won the game, a draw was a fair result. With a number of injury breaks, physio Kirsty Sumner did an excellent job keeping 15 players in black on the park. There were a lot of sore bodies on Sunday morning!

FINAL SCORE Banbury 3s 24 – 24 Gosford All Blacks 2s
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Congratulations to league debuts to colt Theo Jones, last season new joins Liam Park, Reece Coates & Terry Coates, and to this season joiners Bernardo Saez-Benito, Ed Bingham (both playing out of position) and Jack Burns.

Thanks also to the young ref – who was generally pretty consistent and made fewer mistakes than most of the players.

Tap Social Man of the Match: Jack Burns. A dynamic display of carrying, try scoring, tackling and jackaling!

Points:
H Paget – 1T
E Clarke – 1T
J Burns – 1T
A Morton – 1P 3C