Olney Ladies Vs Wellingborough

By Jennie Miles

A strong Olney performance against local rivals

A sunny but blowy day saw the Olney ladies at home to face local rivals Wellingborough for the 4th league game of the season.

Olney kicked off and some great pressure saw the ball turned over with Lianne O’Reilly making a strong run up the pitch. A few passes down the backs line gave debut player Meg Edwards her 1st touch and 1st try for the Olney ladies going over in the corner to open the scoring (5-0).

Olney’s forwards secured the restart and after a couple of phases once again moved the ball out to the backs. Charlotte Denny made a break through the Wellingborough defence and kept the ball alive in the tackle to allow Ellie Fletcher to go over for the home side’s 2nd try (10-0).

The game settled into the midfield with mistakes from both sides resulting in scrums. The strong Wellingborough pack proved to be tough opposition for the usually dominant Olney forwards which helped give Wellingborough the opportunity to attack. The Olney defence continued to hold strong and with some hard work the ball was won back allowing Jennie Miles to side step the Wellingborough defence and break through the middle to score. Jennie added the conversion (17-0).

A lovely take from the kick off allowed Olney to push into the Wellingborough half with the passage of play halted by a penalty offence. Nikki Moore took this quickly catching the Wellingborough defence off guard and offloaded to Lianne who took the ball in and recycled well. 3 more runs from the forwards created the space on the outside which the backs used to get the ball wide to Ellie who went over to score her 2nd of the game (22-0).

Tianna MacGregor once again collected the restart and set off towards the Wellingborough defence. A beautifully timed pass to Lianne saw the number 8 cross the 10 metre line before a lovely pass out of the tackle put Jennie through to score her 2nd of the game, adding the conversion shortly after (29-0).

The kick off didn’t go 10 giving Olney a scrum on half way. A strong scrum from Wellingborough won them a turnover and opportunity to attack. The ball was quickly won back by Olney and they pushed into the Wellingborough 22. Play continued fairly evenly with some good runs from both teams being brought to an end by both good defence and attacking mistakes. The Olney defensive wall of Leah Thomas, Fleur Shakespeare and Tianna played a big part in Olney finally winning the ball back allowing Becky Burrows to score her 1st try for the club on the stroke of half time. Jennie added the conversion to leave the score at 36-0 at half time.

The 2nd half began with Scarlet Donne collecting the kick and passing out to Jennie to clear down the pitch. Lianne made the follow up tackle to pin the away team into their own half and a good drift defence saw Jennie tackle the Wellingborough player into touch to give Olney a line out well into the Wellingborough half. A great throw from Jen Micklewright was collected by Connie Spoor giving the forwards an opportunity to continue pressing up the field. After a few forward phases the ball was shifted to the backs giving Meg her 2nd try which was once again converted (43-0)

Although the scrum continued to be dominated by Wellingborough they couldn’t convert that pressure into points with Olney’s defence holding strong. A turnover allowed Meg to take advantage of the space and she ran half the pitch to score under the posts for a hatrick (50-0).
Possession continued to swap several times with good defence from both teams before Olney finally got the advantage with good runs from Jen, Nikki and finally Leah who almost made it to the line before recycling the ball giving Jennie the opportunity to score her hatrick (57-0).

Jen took the ball from the restart and made a brilliant break down the middle of the pitch before being brought down in the 22. Play continued for a few more minutes until the game ended at 57-0.

Key moments

2:00

Try Meg Edwards scores for Olney RFC

7:00

Try Eleanor Fletcher scores for Olney RFC

15:00

Try Jennie Miles scores for Olney RFC

15:00