With a personal haul of 22 points, skipper, Eddie Phillips guided Banbury Bulls to a 27-7 victory in a niggly Midlands 2 West South encounter at home to Pinley.

Phillips put early points on the board with the first of his five penalties.

But Pinley responded with the opening try when centre Harry Marks ran through weak Bulls tackling to score under the posts. Andy Taylor added the conversion.

Three more penalties by Phillips, nudged the Bulls into a 12-7 lead.

The turning point came late in the first half when Banbury won a turnover deep in their own half and a miss-pass from fly half, Lionel Byrne led to Dan Tooth scoring in the corner, giving Banbury a ten-point advantage at the break.

Another Phillips penalty extended Banbury’s lead early in the second half.

With Pinley down to 14 men due to a yellow card, Phillips crossed for a try, which he converted.

The sending-off of Banbury’s Tooth for retaliation did not affect the outcome.

  • Latest Sport news

Do you want alerts delivered straight to your phone via our WhatsApp service? Text NEWS or SPORT or NEWS AND SPORT, depending on which services you want, and your full name to 07767 417704. Save our number into your phone’s contacts as Oxford Mail WhatsApp and ensure you have WhatsApp installed.