Banbury's Under 12s returned to Twickenham for the second year in a row last Saturday – only this time they returned home with the cup!

Having topped their pool at the prestigious Gullivers Nottingham Festival at Easter, Banbury were drawn against Essex champions Chelmsford in the semi-final.

Both the Gullivers Cup semi-final and final are played on the Twickenham pitch as curtain-raisers to the Guinness Premiership final.

Banbury never let Chelmsford settle into the game and a first-half score from Caleb Shepherd calmed the nerves.

In the second half Banbury scored again as Aaron Taylor dived over the line and sealed a comfortable 10-0 victory.

In the other semi-final, Ampthill defended their line resolutely against Macclesfield to grind out a 0-0 draw.

Ampthill progressed to the final to meet Banbury via the countback rule.

Both packs dominated proceedings in the final to produce some tense, if not exactly thrilling, rugby fare.

Everything was level at half-time with neither side claiming much advantage over their rivals.

In the second half, Banbury asserted the greater territorial advantage and captain Jake Anderson dived over the line to touch down.

However, the referee controversially stopped play for an injury and the try was disallowed.

In the end, it was another 0-0 draw between these closely-matched teams.

And it meant that the title was shared, and both teams could claim cup-winners’ status.