Midlands Division 3 East South: Banbury gave a limp and lacklustre display as they slumped 32-10 away to Lutterworth.

Against a big and well-organised pack, the visitors struggled to generate any sustained pace and momentum and failed to adapt to the blustery conditions.

They also wasted a huge amount of good defensive work by trying to run hard-earned turnover ball from deep, instead of clearing their lines.

Hit by the late withdrawals of skipper Ed Cummings, due to a recurrent groin strain, and fly half Tony Hurst, who was kept in London by a bomb scare at Earls Court, the Bulls were always under pressure.

They conceded two early tries before replying thanks to three players exempt from criticism.

First, centre David Taylor chased and claimed the restart from the second Lutterworth try.

From the resultant ruck, debutant right wing Phil Scott-Priestley sucked in the cover and Taylor put flanker Sean Bannister away for a try.

Banbury would have been happy to have gone into half-time, but poor defence allowed Lutterworth to score an unconverted try.

The home side knew an early second-period score would be decisive and they went over for two tries to seal the result.

Banbury conjured up a response from the three who had produced their first try.

Scott-Priestley set up a midfield ruck 25 metres out, which was recycled to chipping cleverly into space for the Bannister to score second of the match and his ninth league try of the season.

Lutterworth took charge again and added a drop goal in the last ten minutes to complete the scoring.