GROVE survived a late Witney revival to beat their Oxfordshire rivals 24-18 at a rain-soaked Hailey Road.

The south Oxon side extended their winning run to four games in South West 1 East, earning their second derby victory of the campaign.

Grove opened the scoring in the first minute when Connor Hull sped over and Sam Vaughan added the extras to make it 7-0.

A George Lewis penalty got Witney up and running, but Grove responded to lead 14-3, thanks to Harry Anderson’s try. Vaughan converted.

Lewis and Vaughan exchanged penalties as the visitors headed into the break with a 17-6 lead.

The hosts reduced the arrears on 51 minutes when Arron Lambourne crossed in the corner and Lewis converted to make it 17-13.

But Grove hit back through Joe Chilvers and Vaughan added the extras to open up an 11-point advantage.

Witney’s Jamie Burke and the visitors’ Joe Bellinger were sin-binned, but the hosts set up a nail-biting finish as Lambourne crossed for an unconverted try.

The home side pressed hard for a winning score, but Grove held on.

Banbury put in a battling display, but lost 28-20 to second-placed Newbury Blues at Bodicote Park.

Despite conceding an early try, the Bulls led 10-7 at the break, thanks to Sam Stoop’s score.

Stand-in skipper Ed Phillips added the extras, before slotting a penalty.

Another three points from the boot of Phillips extended their advantage in the second half.

But Bulls failed to gather from the resulting kick-off and Blues made them pay with a converted score.

Two more tries helped the visitors into a 28-13 lead, but they had two men sent to the sin-bin late on.

Banbury made them pay, with Cash Chilvers crossing and Phillips converting, but there was no time left to gain a bonus point.

Oxford Harlequins remain rooted to the bottom after a 77-0 defeat at Royal Wootton Bassett.