BATTLING ALL BLACKS IN TOP FORM

Despite Banbury starting the game much the better side, Daventry showed real class in their second half performance.
The opening 20 minutes were played at real pace with both sides willing to run the ball from deep.

Banbury dominated the first quarter and put together fluid moves early on with Andrew Collett instrumental.

Daventry winger Joe Draper was outstanding and his ability to carry the ball, tackle and chase kicks seemed to inspire the rest of the Daventry side.

Daventry scrum-half Gareth Dudgeon, who put in arguably his best ever performance in a Daventry shirt, chipped ahead and charged down which resulted in a line-out.

From this the ball was spread wide to Adam Seamark who dropped the ball with the line begging.

Banbury made the Blacks pay almost immediately when Andrew Collett broke away and chipped ahead before just touching down.

This was just reward for Banbury and a 5-0 lead should have been more when the referee disallowed a try for flanker David Phillips.

Led by the inspirational duo of Alex Rose and Alistair Brighton, Daventry edged their way into the game forcing the Banbury side to make unnecessary mistakes in their own half.

Daventry took the lead 10 minutes before the break when Brighton drove from a five-metre scrum to set up a platform for Rose to release centre Michael Hewitt who stepped his way over for a well constructed score.

Rose added the extras to give the Blacks a 7-5 lead.
The second half started much as the first ended with Daventry getting in among the Banbury pack in particular props Billy Carter and Tim Marston who dominated the battle of the front rows.

Marston was also prominent in the loose acting as an extra back row in attack.
 

At this point Banbury were living off scraps and a fine break from winger David Taylor was all they could muster.

Daventry extended the lead when a scything run from Adam Seamark allowed Alex Rose to exploit the space on the blindside to feed No 8 Alistair Brighton who put Daventry into a 12-5 lead.

The Bulls fought hard to get back into the game but were repelled by some fearsome Daventry defence.

To the fore of this was man of the match Duncan Green.
David Taylor missed a penalty for the Bulls and when Alex Rose slotted a penalty to take Daventry into 15-5 lead the confidence of the Bulls seemed to drain despite the efforts of second row Matt McNally.

Daventry finished the game in style when Captain Lee Collett kicked ahead a loose ball and burst past his opposite number before showing great composure in taking the score. Rose added the touchline conversion to give Daventry a famous victory.