Dees start Cup campaign with win at Banbury

It wasn’t long before the Dees pack were showing their power, and the first scrum of the day resulted in a smashed Banbury pack and turnover ball – something that was going to become a regular theme.

After some good pressure on the home defence, they were forced to touch down over their own line and give Dees a scrum five metres out. The scrum was solid and soon muscling its way to the try line, with Tom Evans in control at the base.

However, for some reason the ball was passed away from the advancing scrum, when it seemed like a try was a certain ending, but the home defence quashed Dees attack, won a turnover penalty and cleared their lines.

It was soon back to the Dees clinical forward play they have come to accept as the norm this season as a drive from the pack saw Rob Thorne over the line on his return from four weeks out through injury.

Winger Danny Mills converted to make it 7-0 to the visitors.

The next 15 minutes didn’t go as planned and Dees were under a barrage of attacks from the home side, with immense tackles Aaron White keeping Banbury at bay.

They eventually broke through though when Dees were caught unprepared and despite some spirited tackling and wall-like defence, a converted try was the outcome.

Banbury were buoyed by their score and kicked penalty to move 10-7 in front, before Shaun Mangan’s neck injury returned and he was forced off.

The experienced forward James Noel ventured onto the pitch, but the change in personnel did no favours to the home pack, as the very next scrum was driven backwards by Dees and set off their backs attacking once again.

It was eventually good pressure from the Dees defence that led to a turnover ball and fullback Pete Thompson found himself breaking free up the left wing to run 50m for a superb individual score.

Again, winger Mills converted his kick to leave Dees 14-10 to the good at the break.

In the second period, a Banbury penalty cut Dunstablians lead once more, but this seemed to spur Dees on and soon the backrow of Evans, Thorne and Sam Coogan made vast inroads into the home defence.

With quick rucks and fast flowing rugby once again being the order of the day, Dees were starting to get a grip on the game again and soon pushed further ahead.

A purple patch of outstanding off-loading out of contact to keep the ball alive eventually saw prop Stuart Calder crash over the line for a 19-13 lead, although the extras were missed.

Dunstablians were their own worst enemy again when they gave away another penalty near which was kicked to make it 19-16.

However back came Dees once more as after a series of forward runs, a beautifully judged chip behind the defence from playmaker Joe Murphy led to Kevin Boland beating the defence to the ball and under massive pressure slipping a tremendous pass back inside to Gavin Denning, who raced towards the line.

A last gasp tackle almost stopped Denning, but his power and awareness of where the line was meant he managed to stay strong and flip over to ground the ball.

Mills saw his kick drift wide, but good interplay from the backs and forwards saw silky winger Danny Mills glided round the defence out wide and to beat two more defenders before eventually touching down.

His own conversion was good and the score was now 31-16 to the visitors, as they advanced into the next round of the cup.

Dees: Stuart Calder, Aaron White, Shaun Mangan, Scott Oliver, Matthew Knight, Sam Coogan, Robert Thorne, Tom Evans, Stuart Hall, Joe Murphy, Danny Mills, Scott Warren, Campbell Haig, Gavin Denning, Kevin Boland

Replacements: James Noel, Harry Barter, Peter Thompson.

T: Stuart Calder, Danny Mills, Gavin Denning, Robert Thorne, Peter Thompson. C: Danny Mills 3.