Forwards Coach CJ Osazuwa praised the front row for rescuing Bournville from a sticky start to maintain their unbeaten home record against Banbury at Avery Fields.
Bourns went 14-0 down in as many minutes at the start of the game and did not take the lead until the 40th minutes but then eased to a comfortable 54-17 win to maintain their lead at the top of Regional One Midlands.
The forward dominance was reflected in the fact that seven of Bournville’s eight tries were scored by pack members – including the front row union of Danny Griffin, Ben Rhodes and Clarkson McLeod – and they managed to shut out Banbury in a frenetic second-half despite having four players yellow carded which meant they were twice down to 13 men.
“If you think about the 14 points lead there was a runaway try and a bad pass. Banbury were a good team who caused us a lot of trouble so they probably deserved 14 points but the actual 14 points they scored were quite sloppy,” Osazuwa said.
“Should we have been in that position? No. But the last 60 minutes of the game were just class. We did so many things right. There are areas of focus but I am really happy with the way the boys responded after conceding 14 points.
“We know that we have a target on our backs, we are top of the league and we knew that Banbury were going to come here have a go. It felt like they wanted it more in the first 20 minutes. They were aggressive and they got to the breakdown faster. Once we had arrested that 20 minutes in there was only going to be one winner.
“For 80 minutes our front-row were outstanding. They were fantastic around the set piece and scrummaging. They probably kept us in the game for the first 20 minutes and the rest of the pack came along after that.
“Then, to a man, everyone made some really dominant tackles and some good carries. I felt we had some real dog which is the word we used at half-time, could we bring a bit of dog out.
“We did not concede a point in the second-half. I don’t know how but we covered a lot of ground even when we were down to 13 men at one stage.
“I am just so proud. Last week at Lutterworth I was proud but this week I am even prouder which I didn’t think I could be.”
In what was very much an outstanding team effort there was one eye-catching individual performance from lock Ollie Morris who was called up for his first start as a late replacement for Kieran Henderson who withdrew due to illness.
“Ollie’s bright red scrum cap makes him stand out so you can see every bit of work he’s doing. If I were him I’d change it to a black scrum cap so he can hide a bit,” Osazuwa said.
“The first 15 minutes he was blowing a bit. I think the pace had got to him and he realised it was a big step up.
“But after that he was as good as anyone else on the pitch. He made so many good tackles, chopping nice and low, he had a really good turnover and he was outstanding in the lineout. It’s not a bad run on debut is it?”
