2nd Team Match Reports

A rain-affected game made for several errors as Olney 2’s made the short trip to Wellingborough, looking to complete a double, having defeated them at home before Christmas.

After a few early exchanges, Olney found themselves on the back foot, and it was the duo of Paddy and Macca that put in the tackles and contested at the breakdown.

Olney cleared their lines well, and soon found themselves bossing the Wellingborough pack. On particular trundle saw Macca cross the line, only for the ref to deny the score.

With the scrums and line-outs a bit of a mess due to the wet conditions, neither side were able to gain a definitive advantage, but special mention must go to young Barrick at Loose-head, holding his own against the huge Wellingborough number 3.

Wellingborough were first on the score sheet, taking the lead with a penalty after Olney were penalised for being offside.

Olney attempted to reply with a penalty soon after, however as the ball struck the upright, no Olney players followed up, and the nippy Wellingborough winger ran the ball straight back up the pitch, catching Olney unawares. Bricey at full-back did well to force a pass, and Mike Durose chased back to make the tackle.

Wellingborough seemed inspired after this, and their useful 12 made a few breaks, often-needing more than one Olney player to bring him down.

Wellingborough added another penalty and converted a try before half-time, but Olney finished strongly, with Durose making a break and feeding Barrick, who gained good yards before the ball was spun wide, only for Jon Edwards on the wing to get bundled into touch near the line.

Halftime, 13-0 to Wellingborough

The second half was much the same as the first, with many handling errors from both sides as the rain began to fall.

Scrums were much more solid, and a push over try saw the hard-working Leahy awarded the score.

Another try was missed by the ref, as Olney’s forwards began to take the ball on around the fringes, but changes in the Wellingborough front row stabilised their set scrum, despite continued pressure from the front row of Barrick, Tomkins and Nicholas.

A line out nicked against the head saw Olney make good yards with a rolling maul, before it was pulled down, Olney being awarded a penalty.

From the following line out, Olney lost Ross Mallen with a nasty injury to his ribs, and Doddsy returned, this time wearing a rather skimpy shirt!

As time began to run out, Olney looked to try and run everything, and the forwards provided Lloydy with decent recycled ball. Kev Smith, Will Edwards and Mike Durose all made good half breaks, but offloads often went astray, again because of the wet weather.

Credit to Wellingborough, who dogged out the second half, and to be fair, made the most of the conditions.

Not a bad performance from the 2’s, who would have probably had a more enjoyable game with drier conditions.

Solid games from Macca and Paddy, credit also due to Bricey and Jon at the back who caught a lot of what was stuck up in the air despite the conditions, and generally did a lot of tidying up.

Very impressive perfomance from young Barrick at prop, making a lot of tackles, supporting well and carrying a lot of ball, while also having to pack down against a monster.

01/12/07

Olney 2nd XV vs Stewart & Lloyds (away Merit Table)

33-17 Win

Winning the toss 14 man Olney decided to play with the advantage of the slope and the wind in the first half. This decision paid off almost immediately as quick recycling by the forwards saw the ball passed wide for Mike Durose to burst through the home side's defence. Richard James getting the first of his four conversions that afternoon. From the restart Olney controlled the ball well and worked in to S&L's 22. After several phases of pressure S&L had to concede a penalty to stop the try, instead of taking the kick in front of the post a quick tap was taken and the ball passed to Matt Cook, who powered over from 5 meters out with James converting. Olney, now up to 15 as late arrival Alex Campbell took to the pitch, continued to dominate the first half. Further tries came from Richard James and Kev Smith, with Richard converting his own try. Just before half time Olney dropped the pace of the game to that one which the home side could live with, this was mainly due to the lack of contested scrums. This gave S&L some hope and they tried to use the speed they had on the wings. The final passage of play saw the S&L's winger running clear, but a monstrous cover tackle from Iain Fletcher prevent the score. Unfortunately this left the Olney player injured and the team back down to 14.

Half time 26 - 0

Now playing with the wind and Olney starting the 2nd half the way they left off the 1st, S&L put pressure on the away side. S&L continuously kicked over the top to try and take advantage of the wind and Olney being 1 man down. From one of these kicks the S&L number 10 ran into an Olney player and claimed that he was blocked, the referee being unsighted fell for the claim of the S&L and gave the penalty, which was converted. Olney continued to be asleep and conceded two further scores in the form of converted tries. This left the score at 26-17 and S&L’s within touching distance. This woke the away side up who took control of the game through a series of well controlled forward drives, however too much possession was kicked away and keep S&L in the game. From a scrum on the Olney 5 meter line, the decision was taken to run the ball instead of kick. Mike Durose made a break through the defence and ran to within 10 meters of the S&L line, in the tackle he managed to get the ball away Nathan Pearce who ran in under the posts. Richard James converted the try and this was effectively the end of the game.

Tries – Mike Durose, Matt Cook, Richard James, Kev Smith, Nathan Pearce

Conversions – Richard James x 4

20/10/07

Olney 2nd XV vs Wellingborough (home Merit Table)

19-18 Win

Due to a number of late changes Olney kicked off this local derby against Wellingborough with a much changed team from the one selected earlier in the week. With no substitutes available and the late inclusion / welcome return of Steve Günter at full back it was going to need a real 15 man effort from Olney.

Wellingborough arrived at the Rec with a large pack of forwards which meant that the early exchanges were keenly fought over. Although the opposition played the 1^st half with the wind and slight slope it was Olney who took the ball to w’borough and after some good interplay between forwards & backs had created space deep in the opposition half. Unfortunately however a pass out wide was speculatively intercepted by the one of the opposition backs who duly sprinted ¾ length of the pitch to score under the posts. Conversion added.

The game was tight for most of the 1^st half; however some inexcusable lack lustre tackling allowed the no. 12 for w’borough to run virtually untouched through the Olney defence to score. Missed conversion.

Throughout the 1^st half Mike Durose at fly half was asking questions of the youthful w’borough back line and some straight running by the unorthodox centre partnership of Ian Bennett and Pat Leahy kept Olney going forward.

W’borough slotted a penalty before half time making it, 0v15 at the turn around.

The whole team felt that they had under performed in the 1^st 40 and a collective half time team talk from inspirational manager Keith Plummer, and a simple game plan of playing the rugby in the opposition half and complete the basics, ensured everyone was clear of the task ahead.

It started well. Forwards caught ball and took on the opposition and when the backs had the ball they played to field position. It was then for Olney to get on the score sheet, with a fantastic individual try from No.10 who jinked through the w’borough defence and ran ½ the pitch to score under the posts. Plus conversion.

Wellingborough then kicked a penalty. The opposition backs had given up trying to run at the Olney midfield and tried to run around the defence, but instead were shepherded out towards touch.

The Olney pack was now beginning to get on top of the w’borough forwards with some strong running from Si Wilcox (who interestingly has a virtually identical running style to his father) and the 2x Olney lock forwards. The lineout was working well and beginning to take opposition ball as well.

A good counter attack from Fletcher, who linked with the forwards to take the ball on yet further, created the gaps out wide for the ball to passed to Justin Wilcox who went over for a well worked score.

From a wide angle this was duly converted by No.9 Richard James.

Smelling victory Olney fought hard against a good w’borough team and some dogged work by Macca, James Nicholas and Stuart Goodhew supplied enough ball for Paddy to go over, with 10 minutes remaining and thus secure victory.

This was a good win. 19 v 18

20/10/07

Olney 2nd XV vs Ampthill (home, friendly)

43-19 Win

The first 15 minutes of the game saw olney defending hard in their own 22.

As the ampthill forwards were edging nearer the home teams try line, the

olney pack turned over and fed the ball to fly half Mike Durose who with a

thrilling run managed to plant the ball between ampthills posts, Richard

James converted 7-0. A few rucks and scrums later the Ampthill winger

decided to take the olney back 3 by complete suprise and chipped a long

ball, with our full back beat the ampthill winger leaped on the ball scoring

in the corner, unconverted 7-5. Olney then retalliated with a tremendous

pack effort and a spot of individual flair from Patrick Leahy, scoring near

the posts, converted, 14-5. Ampthill then responded with another chip try,

converted 14-12. In quick succession Ampthill put another try over,

unconverted 17-14. With half time looming and the olney heads hanging

slightly, a penalty was awarded in the ampthill 22. Paddy opted for the

posts, and Richard James stepped to the mark. The kick missed however and

Centre Ross Keenan chased the kick and with a tap of the foot and a dive

chased the ball and landed on it. Richard James alas missed the conversion

attempt to leave the score, 19-17 at half time.

With just two points difference at the Half, Captain Paddy motivated the

Olney 15 to put forth an astonishing team effort in the 2nd half.

The half kicked off with a Brutally well executed move produced by fly half

Mike Durose, Centres Ross Keenan and Kev Smith. This saw Ross Keenan cut a

line through the Ampthill defence and score under the posts. Converted by

Richard James, 26-17. With outstanding defence from the Olney 15 the

Ampthill lads looked tired, and No.14 Ian Fletcher took the opportunity to

score an individual try out wide, unconverted 31-17. Another Backs move from

the olney side saw Kev Smith run an inside line off Ross Keenan and then

ship the ball back to Ross to make it a Hat-Trick, unconverted 36-17. The

final try of the game came from Kev Smith who ran a deep crashing line to go

over for another try, converted 43-17.

With a Tight first half the team really stuck together well in the 2nd half

and produced some champagne rugby. Man of the Match going to Cookie, No.8

for his tremendous efforts in the rucks and mauls.

13/10/07

Olney 2nd XV vs. Bletchley (away friendly)

Result 48-5 (Win)

Olney first team squad enjoyed a day off watching the Northampton Saints game and with Bletchley not being able to raise a team late on Saturday morning to play Olney 3's, it was left to Olney 2nds to play the only game and they travelled to Bletchley 2's in good form after last week's strong win.

Olney started where the left off last week, with the forwards dominating scrum and broken play. From a quickly taken free kick for a collapsed scrum, Olney forwards and backs combined to attack Bletchley's line and only some desperate defence kept them out. A series of scrums on the Bletchley 5m line eventually saw a well worked back line move with Player of the month Kev Smith cutting through and scoring.

Olney continued to dominate and a further try came through No 8 Matt Cook, with scrum half Richard James converting and adding a penalty. Bletchley rallied and finally got some pressure and territory deep in Olney's half but good work by the Olney scrum saw hooker Matt Boddy take one against the head. The ball was fed quickly to fly half Mike Durose who made a searing 40m break and with only the full back to beat and a three man overlap outside him, he chose to kick ahead and the ball hit the foot of the unfortunate full back. Luckily for Olney, the ball bounced straight into the hands of supporting runner Richard James who run in unopposed and converted his own try to give Olney a 22-0 lead.

Bletchley never gave up and managed a score before the half and threatened again when after some broken play from end to end, the ball was kicked through and chased by two Bletchley players. A great covering run by Matt Boddy saw him win the chase and was strong enough to hold on despite the attentions of several Bletchley players and so wipe out one of their only chances to get back into the game, leaving the half time scored 22-5.

The second half saw Olney ring the changes, mainly in the pack but this did not disrupt the game plan with Olney starting the 2nd half with two further tries, from both centres, Kev Smith and Ross Keenan. With the game won, Olney eased off and for 20mins Bletchley attacked the Olney line incessantly but the defence held firm. As Bletchley tired, Olney ran in two further tries, one more from Ross Keenan and a try from second row Nathan Pearce. With Richard James converting 3 of the 4 second half tries, taking his personal tally to 18pts and the final score, a comfortable 48-5 win for Olney.

06/10/07

Olney 2nd XV vs. Daventry

Result 70-8 (Win)

Tries: Jon Edwards, Kev Smith, Ross Keenan x4, Justin Wilcox x3, Mike Durose, James Nicholas, Matt
Cook

Conversions: Richard James x5

From the kick off Olney took the game to the home side who immediately conceded a penalty for not releasing the ball in the tackle. A quick tap was taken, catching Daventry unawares, with the ball eventually going to Justin Wilcox to score within the first few minutes of the match. This early score seemed to kick start the home side who came back hard at Olney. Following Olney's example Daventry used the quick tap from penalties to gain territory, which they were able to convert into points through a try out wide. With the score at 5 points a piece Olney knew that they had to concentrate on first up tackles and not giving penalties away if they were not to repeat the mistakes of last week. The next try came through good interlinking between Olney’s backs and forwards seeing Prop James Nicholas running in from 25 meters out. Again Daventry came back at Olney, but this time Olney held their line and cleared the pressure. Olney scored 3 more tries this half, converting 2 of them, to take the score to 29-5 at half time.

Olney started the second half where they had left off in the first, with good forward play seeing Matt Cook picking the ball up from the base of 5 meter scrum and powering over for an early score on the board. Daventry’s players now seemed to lose their motivation and the rest of the half was one way traffic as Olney dominated in every area of the game except for one long range penalty score by the home side. Particularly strong was Olney’s scrum, which caused two of Daventry’s front row forwards leave the field and reducing the scrum to a non-contested affair. Man of the match was Ross Keenan who’s strong running style was rewarded with four tries.

29/09/07

Olney 2^nd XV Team Match Report: Towcester

Result: 32-26 (L)

Olney started strongly with good possession and camped in Towcester's 22. Several
5m scrums couldn't be converted and the away team managed to eventually cleared the ball to relieve the pressure. Another fstrong play saw the home side nearly score but the overlap was not used and then Towcester completely against run of play in free flowing open rugby crossed the line to take score to 5-0. Olney came back, good running rugby, support play and recycling of the ball, set up Kev Smith for first try and SJ converted to take 7-0 lead. Immediately from re-start, Olney took clean ball, cleared for touch but failed to find it and Towcester forwards ran unopposed down the line for their no 7 to score and take a 12-7 lead. Olney fought back hard and after some flowing rugby, support runner Phil Berry was put through a gap to walk in for a score. SJ converted to take Olney into14-12 HT lead.

Olney had played the better rugby when not standing off watching Towcester play and the emphasis at HT was to continue to do this and get in amongst Towcester earlier. For some reason, the 2nd half started in exactly the opposite manner with Olney watching as Towcester ran in 4 unconverted tries in 20 minutes to take a 32-14 lead. During this spell, Olney found themselves bemoaning their bad luck and lack of decisions from the referee rather than just getting on with playing the rugby. On the end of a possible drubbing Olney finally decided to play the way they had done. From a penalty on the Towcester 10m line, captain Jarlath McElroy noticed that Towcesterwere preparing for a kick to touch. Instead, a quick tap was taken and a gap was spotted in the Towcester line which McElroy went through then fed Simon Jay on the burst who form 25yds out was unstoppable despite the attention of several defenders. He converted his own try and with Olney now within two scores, they really took the game to Towcester. Another penalty saw Olney opt for a line out on the Towcester 22 and after a great catch and drive taken on first by Matt Cook, then by Mark Readman who powered over to take the score to 32-26 with 3 minutes to go. With Olney throwing everything at Towcester, they were awarded a scrum on the 22 as the last play of the game. Trying desperately to keep the ball alive and get the winning score, Olney skipper threw a pasty of a pass to winger Jon Edwards trying to put him in for a chance to score in the corner only for him to be bundled into touch as the covering defence had bags of time to get there. A disappointing end to a disappointing game which Olney could and should have won apart from a 20minute spell were they totally switched off. Special mention to man of the match Kev Smith who ran hard and tackled hard all day and to Glyn Dodd for some strong forward play and thanks to Nathan Pearce for playing out of position this week on the wing,

22/09/07

Olney 2^nd XV Team Match Report: Northampton Old Scouts (home)

Result: 38-7 (L)

Olney 2nds faced a well drilled and experienced Old Scouts team with a scratch side due to last minute injuries and unavailability. Thanks to the two colts Wilkes and A.Nother who stepped in to make up the 15 and played out of position too. From the start, the bigger Old Scouts pack, dominated Olney at set piece and breakdown and despite resilient defensive efforts, Olney struggled to get into the game and conceded two tries early on to go 14-0 with 20 minutes gone. Old Scouts applied huge pressure on the Olney scrum and although it didn't buckle, twice man of the match Johnny Carr held up their no 8 over the line to keep them out. This galvanised Olney but under constant attacking pressure conceded a couple of penalties to take the score to 20-0 and then once more, some missed first up tackles, let Old Scouts in for a try just before the break to take the half time score to 25-0 to the visitors. The half time talk focussed on playing more disciplined rugby and making these first up tackles and this saw a marked improvement in the 2nd half performance. Despite the relentless pressure of a bigger, more mobile pack and the excellent game management of their half backs, Olney managed to contain Scouts for most of the half, conceding two soft penalties and one further try, taking the score to 38-0. In the last 15 minutes, Olney eventually found some control and and got something from the game. A well taken line out from Nathan Pearce was driven on by the pack before releasing the backs. Outside centre Kevin Smith cut a great line of Iain Fletcher, slicing through their backline and with only the full back to beat, unselfishly fed Ross Keanan to score unopposed under the posts and he converted his own try to take the final score to 38-7.

Although a comprehensive defeat against strong opposition, Olney can take heart from the effort, particularly in the second half and from the younger players too, in particular, Nathan Pearce, Richard James, centres Ross Keenan and Kev Smith and of course, Johnny Carr. Another tough game but some invaluable experience for these players.

15/09/07

Olney 2^nd XV Team Match Report: Boys Brigade Old Boys (BBOB) AWAY

Result: 13-3 (L)Following on from the successful opening game of the season against Peterborough the 2^nd’s travelled to Northampton to play BBOB. The sun was beating down, and the ground conditions hard…a hard afternoon was to be had by all. The well-matched teams battled away, with the domination of possession and territory resting with the home team. Against the run of play Olney struck the first points of the game with a penalty. BBOB came back strongly with a dominating run of play to even and then take the lead 6-3 at half time.

Highlights of the game included the gradual domination of the scrum, ironically at its most successful when No.7 Eddie Hutch was sin-binned for retaliation. An unfortunate clash of heads between captain Paddy Leahy and new start Jonathon Bright at inside centre left both requiring patching up, with Jonathon having to leave the field with cuts to his left eye.

Individual runs from T-Rex, Trigger, Matt Cook and Ross Keanan showed individual flair, but in general the conditions seemed to suppress the well-supported running rugby displayed so well last week. The BBOB fly half had a strong kicking game and was able to assist his forwards in pushing the Olney pack into their own half. There were continual breaks in play for injuries to the BBOB players due to the solid defensive play by Olney. One BBOB player commented that Olney had “broken” them…

08/09/07

Olney 2nd XV win first league game

Olney 25 - Peterborough 12

The first proper 2nd team game of the year saw Olney at home to a strong Peterborough 3rd team. While Peterborough were warming up, Olney were still finalising the team and were thankful for an influx of colts to field a full side. The match started in a similar vein with a very large and organised Peterborough pack taking the game from the start to Olney. However, even with so many new faces and a lack of familiarity the tackling was solid and there was no way through for Peterborough. After 10-15mins of this, Olney eventually played there way into the opposition half with strong running from 2nd row Nathan Pearce and No 8 Mark Readman in the forwards and Eddie Hutch, converted back-row playing in the centre also making strong gains.

Eventually Olney pressure in the forwards told and quick ball from scrum half Elliott Sweeney in a man of the match debut performance, fed the back line for Ross Keane to score. Unfortunately he failed to convert his own try. Olney went straight back at Peterborough and saw their smaller pack begin to dominate in the scrums and in the loose. Strong scrummaging from out of position back row players Matt Cook at Hooker and Jarlath McElroy at 2nd row led the way in the set piece and the breakdown. From one infringement at the breakdown on the Peterborough 22, Keane didnt wait for the kicking tee when taking a drop kick penalty and screwed the ball wide... Taxi for Keane was the groan! Despite this set back, Olney finished the half the stronger, scoring 2 more tries, through Mark Readman in the corner and debutant winger Mike Durose playing at fly half, when he ghosted through a static defence. Again both were unconverted but Olney were happy with a 15-0 half time lead.

The 2nd half started similarly and after a sustained period of pressure, Turose again slid through unopposed to make the score 20-0. About midway through the half, the Peterborough replacement hooker had to go off and scrums went uncontested. This made an already open game even more disjointed and end to end and gave Peterborough's strong pack the opportunity to set a good platform from the scrums. This helped them start a come back and after a lot of pressure, their forwards created a try which was then converted. Peterborough came back strongly again and despite fierce tackling from centre Kevin Smith and Matt Cook and captain Pat Leahy, Peterborough again squeezed over after successive line out and mauling play to take the score to 20-12.

Olney were in danger of thinking the match was won and sitting back on their lead but strong counter attacking from within their 22 by full back Steve Smith and wings Sam Baker and Ross Knapper saw the game switch repeatedly from end to end and with both teams tiring, Mike Durose went in at the corner to complete a 25-12 win rounding off an excellent performance against strong opposition

Create A Website