Banbury Bulls coach Grant Holmes admitted his players made hard work of beating Northampton BBOB.

He said: “It was rather frustrating. We should have put another 20 or 30 points on them, but failed to do it.

“The first half was probably the better of the two.

“In the second half, our option-taking was poor.

“The objective in the second half was to control the territory and put points on the board when they came up.

“We did it well once, but our discipline dropped and we kept letting them back to halfway.

“I didn’t feel they threatened our line that much.

“I think their scrum half was a little unlucky to be sent off, but we didn’t take full advantage.”