Midlands Intermediate Cup

Banbury Bulls were knocked out at the second round stage following a 19-18 defeat at Old Laurentians.

A late penalty from full back Denzil Evans consigned Banbury to their first loss of the campaign.

Banbury began brightly and could have scored at least two tries in the opening quarter.

A penalty from centre Mike Smith did put them ahead, but he soon had to go off injured.

Laurentians hit back with two tries and an Evans penalty.

But a quick Banbury penalty left the hosts bemused and allowed Darren De Bruyn to run in untouched.

Trailing 13-8 at the break, Bulls reduced the arrears with a penalty from Pete Papenfus, who was playing just his second match after two years out injured.

An Evans penalty made it 16-11, but Banbury looked to have won it after the referee missed an obvious knock-on.

The ball was kicked ahead and rebounded off the post protector for No 8 Simon Brand to touch down for try, which Papenfus converted.

Evans won the game with a penalty 90 seconds from the end.