WITNEY booked their place in the final of the Oxfordshire Cup with a 17-0 victory against Chinnor 2nd at Kingsey Road.

Tries from Jack Birks, Lloyd Allen and Carl Strutt helped the visitors set up a showdown with 2016 and 2017 champions Banbury at Iffley Road on Thursday, March 29.

The county cup has, once again, been impacted by fixtures being unplayed, with Witney progressing to the semi-finals after they were handed a walkover by Bicester.

Henley 2nd also conceded their last-four tie, allowing Banbury to reach their third successive final.

Witney, playing down the slope and the with the wind at their backs, enjoyed the early territory against Chinnor.

But their attacks continuously broke down on a cold and wet day.

The momentum shifted in the home side’s favour and Charlie Marshall was sin-binned for the visitors.

But Witney’s defence held firm and they ended the half on top to take a 7-0 lead into the break.

Fly half Birks dived over with Arron Lambourne converting, while Chinnor’s Jon Lavin was yellow-carded for repeated team offences.

Witney went on to dominate in the scrum and piled on the pressure.

This paid dividends on 59 minutes when flanker Allen went over for an unconverted try following a driving maul to make it 12-0.

The west Oxfordshire side then extended their lead to 17 points with three minutes remaining.

Gareth Campbell’s high kick fell kindly for Birks, who threw an overhead pass infield for centre Strutt to dive over for an unconverted score and make sure of victory.

Witney will now meet Banbury in next month’s final, hoping there will be no repeat of their 36-18 defeat on the first day of the South West 1 East season back in September.

They will bid to stop Bulls making more club history by winning the competition for a third time in a row.