Trailing 29-5 with ten minutes to go we staged a late comeback, with tries from Russ Pearce, Greg Goodfellow and Ben Harding reducing the deficit to five points. However, we just ran out of time to complete the comeback as Banbury were able to breathe a sigh of relief.

It was a cracking advert for vets rugby, but if only we had started the comeback a little sooner! Special mentions to Goodfellow, who was outstanding at 9 and 10, while Trevor Powell rolled back the years at full-back and Director of Rugby Richard Thorpe was phenomenal in his 60-minute stint.

Banbury’s powerful and young side controlled the early proceedings, enjoying all of the territory thanks to their dominant pack, but we took the lead.

Guy Hackshaw sprinted on to Conor Begley’s delightful crossfield kick, beating the full-back to the ball, racing over half-way and into the open space. The Banbury left-wing caught him up, but Hacky had it all under control, feeding the supporting Powelly with a sublime pass behind his back before getting it back and dotting down for an unconverted try.

Banbury’s side was full of young vets who have played regular rugby all season and it really made the difference. Two tries and a penalty from Chinnor legend Matt Goode – who was of course kicking from the tee with no step – helped them into a 15-5 lead at the break.

Their forward dominance continued after the break, with their powerful front row scrummaging and carrying with plenty of purpose.

Two further tries and Banbury looked home and dry at 29-5, but our Oxen refused to give in as they made their numerical advantage count with the opposition scrum-half in the sin bin.

Goodfellow, who was later voted Vets Player of the Year, sniped over to reduce the deficit, before another stunning score to rival Hacky’s arrived.

Russ was fed on half-way and proceeded to dance his way through Banbury, with his twinkle toes and snake hips taking him all the way to the try-line for a phenomenal solo effort. Greg stepped up to add the extras and we now only trailed by ten points with five minutes to go.

We kept the pressure on and with Banbury penalised deep in their own half, we scored again, working the ball from left to right where Harding sneaked through to score.

By now there was only a minute, if that, remaining, but there was not enough time for the remarkable comeback to be completed.

Now for the European adventure …