SEAN Bannister scored a hat-trick of tries as leaders Banbury cruised to a 41-14 win at Dunlop.

After a tight first half in the Midlands 2 West (South) match, the visitors ran away with a bonus-point win.

Bannister crashed over for the first try, with captain Ed Phillips adding the extras to make it 7-0.

The skipper then kicked a penalty, with Dunlop losing their captain to the sin-bin.

It was the hosts who ended the half on top and a penalty resulted in a converted try, while Banbury’s No 8 Simon Brand was also yellow-carded.

The visitors were scrappy at the beginning of the second half, but the return of Brand kicked them into life and Joe Mills raced over.

Phillips added the extras to make it 17-7.

A second yellow for Dunlop shifted the game in Bulls’ favour, with Phillips crossing twice and converting both.

Bannister then added two more, Phillips missing one attempt, to make it 41-7.

The hosts refused to give up and finished the game with a converted try.

In Southern Counties North, Bicester suffered their fourth league defeat since Christmas in a 30-18 defeat at Bletchley.

Phil Harman and Bicester’s Tom Miles exchanged penalties, before Jason Buckley and Ben Robinson dived over for the hosts.

The visitors responded with a Miles penalty, but Bletchley made it 20-6 when Tom Hannell was driven over and Harman added the extras.

But, once again, Bicester reacted, with Peter Tarrega and Mike Harris going over.

Miles converted the first score to make it 20-18.

However, Tarrega was sin-binned and two unconverted tries from Kevin Turnbull and Glen White made sure of victory for the hosts.

Wallingford beat Stow-on-the-Wold 13-10.

James Wiltshire crossed, while Phil Dawes kicked eight points.