2nd XV v Banbury III: 50-3

Written by Jon Carnall

Tuesday, 02 October 2007

Old Leamingtonians 2nd XV continued their excellent start to the season with a well worked 50-3 win over Banbury 3rds at the Crofts. Banbury, after turning up with 13 men were offered the services of an OLs prop “relaxing in the bar” and OLs sportingly agreed to drop to 14 men to make it an even sided affair, Neil Hall making the sacrifice. Attacking with the wind in the first half, it was Banbury who made the most of the early exchanges. OLs seemingly over confident from their previous wins and not showing the usual intensity seen so far this season spent most of the first 15 minutes defending in their own half. It was however, OLs who opened the scoring when number 8, Jim “Noddy” Holder charged down a kick from the base of a 5m scrum and grounded in the resultant melee. Banbury came back hard and the OLs outside centre then came up with the defensive tackle of the day when the Banbury Fly-half tapped a quick penalty from 50 yards and, looking to be clean through was first caught and then held up over the line by Aaron Dudley. However, from another infringement by the OLs pack, the visitor’s fly half knocked over an easy penalty to get Banbury on the scoreboard. From the restart, a great chase up the right saw good work from Ian Maul and Malc Boyd before number 8 Jim Holder finished off the move with his 2nd try. Mark Foley added the extras. Half Time, OLs 12, Banbury 3 The talk in the half time period was of going back to basics and winning quick clean ruck ball for the pacy backs to exploit and it had an immediate effect. OLs eventually going on to add a further 38 unanswered points to their half-time tally and completing the win 50-3. Second half tries were scored by Ian Maul, Mark Foley, Malc Boyd, Craig Ellis, Liam Jones and Luke Cobb. Mark Foley converting 4 of these tries. Final Score, OLs 50, Banbury 3 All in all a good result but a concern that the over confidence in the first half led to a disappointing performance in front of a good home crowd. Man of the match went to Malc Boyd for some excellent direct running at inside centre. Next week is Kenilworth 3s at home, 12pm kick off. Hopefully OLs Extras can build on this 2nd half performance and keep the winning start to the season continuing.

 

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