Banbury 28 v Wellingborough 6

As the match was played on one of the outlying pitches due to waterlogging on the main pitch, it should have given Boro a clue that open running rugby was not going to be the order of the day.  However Boro tried to play their normal game and were heavily punished.  They lost two scrums against the head in the first five minutes and were under intense pressure.  From the second of these Banbury used a cross field kick and with Boros winger failing to get any contact on an attempted fly hack it left the Banbury winger with an easy touch down.  They missed the conversion but increased their lead with a penalty soon afterwards.  Banbury added a further converted try before Pete Vickers found his kicking boots to reduce the arrears before half time. 

The half-time team talk failed to alter Boro's game plan and it was no surprise when Banbury increased their lead with two more tries and one penalty, with Boro's only reply being one more penalty from Vickers.  It was only in the final ten minutes that Boro resorted to playing wet weather rugby but by then it was far too late.  Strong leadership was missing with skipper Dudley Cross out with a broken hand and it could prove to be a difficult month ahead for Boro without him as they have some tough fixtures coming up.