BANBURY Bulls continued their fine start to the season with a convincing 52-17 triumph at Beaconsfield.

Flanker James Jennings was man of the match in his first start as Bulls made it three wins from their first three South West 1 East matches to sit top of the table.

The visitors were forced into a reduced warm-up after several players were held up by an accident on the M40 and the two sides traded the lead in the early stages.

Jennings opened the scoring and Duncan Leese converted to give Bulls the perfect start, but the flanker was yellow-carded for not retreating after a penalty and Beaconsfield took advantage.

Despite an unconverted try from Leese, Bulls soon found themselves 17-12 down, but quickfire scores from Chris Davies and Jack Briggs, with Leese adding the extras, put the away side 26-17 up at the break.

In the second half it was one-way traffic, with Jennings setting up Ed Phillips to stretch the lead.

Beaconsfield’s Matthew Brown was yellow-carded for a high tackle and Bulls helped themselves to two more scores, with Oscar Triggs and Dan Kirwin going over.

Head coach Matt Goode came on for the final few minutes and set up Briggs for his second, before Leese completed the scoring with his third conversion of the second half.

Oxford Harlequins suffered their first defeat of the campaign as they lost 32-5 at home to Royal Wootton Bassett.

Callum Cashman’s try put Quins 5-3 up in the first half, but injuries to Ollie Rees and Sheldon Graddon put the home side on the back foot.

They trailed 10-5 at the break, before the visitors stepped it up to score four tries in 15 minutes in the second half.