A trip slightly too far!

Banbury 17 – 13 Eagles

Juniors U21 • Friendly • Sat 5th Sep 09, 3:00PM

PhotosClick here for photographs of this match

 

The Eagles travelled to Banbury for a warm-up game on a surprisingly mild September afternoon. Banbury is perhaps farther than might ordinarily be travelled for a season’s opener - the fixture was being played as a double header with the 1st XV game at the same venue. The pitch was in excellent condition, with a noticeable but not disruptive wind blowing towards one end. Steve Jones, at hooker, had taken over as U21s captain and headed a large squad, with the match to be played, as normal for a warm-up game, with multiple substitutions.

Banbury started brightly and pinned the Eagles in their own 22, after the Eagles failed to deal with the kick-off cleanly : though the Eagles lived dangerously at a couple of points, the defence nonetheless held firm and the play moved towards half-way. The Banbury forwards were coordinating well at close quarters but the Eagles forwards were dominating at scrum time, with Mike Cumming and Dan Bryk propping strongly and Steve Jones taking two early strikes against the head. The Eagles backs were making fair use of possession and won a penalty for offside at a ruck, calmly converted by Richard Smith, 3-0.

The Eagles were shading both territory and possession, with Nick Rawson at 9 showing some fluent distribution skills to bring the Eagles backs into the game. This was proving a more productive strategy for the Eagles, with Banbury continuing to shade the play in the tight. The Eagles centres, Nick Valente and Jonny Smith were comfortably dealing with Banbury’s attacking threat through the backs and took a sharp opportunity to put wingman Greg Edwards away for a sharply taken try in the corner, though the Eagles’ kicker was unable to add the extras, 8-0.

Banbury struck back with a smooth break from the outside centre, who made good ground after breaking the Eagles’ defensive line; he was tackled just short of the line by Jonny Smith but the fast arriving Banbury back row support picked up well and worked the ball over the line, though the Banbury kicker was also unable to add the conversion, 8-5.

Play oscillated back and forth in midfield for a while, with neither side able to gain ascendancy until the Eagles gradually began to shade territory.  However, the Banbury centres were able to make two breakaways when the Eagles, camped in the Banbury 22, lost possession. Both chances were taken, one converted and suddenly the Eagles found themselves 8-17 down. A slightly ambitious penalty shy came and went without adding to the Eagles’ points tally. Nonetheless, the Eagles continued to press, throwing caution to the wind, and began to play more high risk rugby, with Richard Smith accelerating through a gap in the centres to cross the whitewash for 13-17, though the Eagles’ kicker’s radar remained awry. The Eagles gathered the restart and made ground upfield, creating two chances to retake the lead in the dying minutes, though unable to take either.  A case of what might have been: two moments loss of concentration had let go of a match the Eagles had largely dominated but the match had nonetheless been a good workout and the team could look forward to the U21s Christmas tournament with optimism.

Eagles squad: Mike Cumming, Steve Jones (c), Tom Tubb, Dan Bryk, Phi Pearman, Heath Burton, Jack Townsend, Donald McKay, Bradley Hayward-Bray, John Connolly, Max Lazarevic, Nick Rawson, Richard Smith, Nick Valente, Jonny Smith, Greg Edwards, Matt Holmes, Will Dodgson, and Sam Manning.

 

Report by Mike Scoltock