Rugby: Banbury blown away by rampant Chinnor

Although neither side was at full strength for Saturday's clash, Banbury were slightly weaker following some late withdrawals.

This was not immediately apparent as the Bulls took a 14-0 lead with two tries from winger Chris Fellows, both converted by Stuart Viggers.

Chinnor hit back before half-time with winger Josh Jones scoring a try, converted by Conor Begley.

With the stiff breeze in their favour after the break, Chinnor pegged Banbury back in their own half with some excellent touch kicks.

The Chinnor forwards excelled in the ensuing line-outs and mauls, and five tries came in 17 minutes from centre Tim Wright, lock Gary Porter, full back Alan Cawston and No 8 Paul Hennessy (2). Begley converted all of them to put Chinnor 42-14 ahead. He later added a penalty between two late tries from Banbury flankers Ed Cummings and Willie Brooks, with Viggers landing two more conversions.

Chinnor's Gary Woodburn gave Martin Hobley a tough time in the set scrums, while young hooker Tim Jackson had a storming game in the loose.

Witney's knack of losing games they should win occurred again as they went down 21-17 in a friendly away to Gordon League, from Gloucester.

The home side raced into an 8-0 lead, but Witney, who lost Remy Martin with a dislocated thumb, rallied with a try by Andrew Merriman and a conversion from Paul Thomas.

In the second half, lock Alan Richens finished off an excellent move to score a try, and with Thomas adding a conversion and a penalty, Witney led 17-11 going into the final stages.

But they then hit the self-destruct button with two disastrous defensive errors as League scored twice to snatch an unlikely victory.

Winger Martin Nutt scored four tries and two conversions as Chipping Norton romped to a 50-3 success over Shipston-on-Stour.

Chippy's other tries came from lock Mark Evans (2), Aaron Tustin and Ian Jones, while Barry Nutt added three conversions.