Olney vs Lutterworth

The 13 players of Olney made the short trip up the M1 to Lutterworth for the 1st game of 2018.

Lutterworth kicked off and Olney took the early opportunity of possession to make their way into the Lutterworth half putting pressure on the defence. Although Olney made some good progress in attack a knock on handed possession back to Lutterworth in their own 22. Play mainly continued in the Lutterworth half for the first 20 minutes of the game with neither side being able to turn their possession into points.

A good period of attacking play from Olney finally ended the deadlock with Charlotte Denny sidestepping a couple of defenders on her way to score in the corner (0-5).

Lutterworth came back strong and despite some great defence they were able to break through to score near the posts. The conversion was good and Lutterworth took the lead (7-5).

The game continued fairly evenly until the last couple of minutes of the half where a couple of Olney mistakes saw Lutterworth take advantage of the resulting penalties to make their way to within 5 metres of the line. Some fierce defence held out the attack but another penalty allowed Lutterworth to get the ball down the line to the wing where a brilliant try saving tackle from Charlotte stopped the home side from increasing their lead on the stroke of half time.

The second half started well for the visitors when the kick off was knocked on giving Olney a scrum in the Lutterworth half. Some strong runs from the Olney forwards ensured play moved steadily up the pitch and into the Lutterworth 22. This pressure from the forwards allowed the backs to get the ball wide to Amanda Kinder who was brought down just short of the line. Great reactions from Hannah Ovenden saw her pick up the ball and dive over the line to retake the lead (7-10).
The restart didn’t go 10 metres which gave Olney an attacking scrum on the half way.

Olney’s positive play continued and their dominant scrum allowed the backs to get good stable ball. One of these scrums gave Jennie Miles the ball and with a great sidestep she broke the defensive line and went over the line for the visitors third try of the day (7-15).

Olney took the restart well and in a couple of phases were well into the Lutterworth half once again. Another good scrum gave the ball to the backs and with some good passing it was given to Ellie Fletcher on the wing who ran in to score the try (7-20).

The last 20 minutes saw a sustained attack from Lutterworth keeping Olney in their own half and under a lot of pressure. Brilliant defence all round allowed them to absorb this pressure and superb scrums gave Jennie the ball with enough time to clear the ball into touch.

Lutterworth won the following lineout and worked the ball back to the Olney 22 with some strong runs. However the defensive line of the visitors held out and in the last minute of the game Olney were awarded a penalty allowing Jennie to clear their lines and give them an attacking lineout on half way. This line out was won and after a couple of phases the time of the half ran out allowing Ellie to kick the ball to touch ending the game 7-20.