Ladies left short at Worcester

Olney Ladies travelled to 2nd placed Worcester expecting a hard afternoon at the office given that they only had 14 players. They started well enough with an early drive into Worcester territory which looked promising until a handling error gifted the ball to the home side who broke through poor Olney defence to score after only 5 minutes. Within 5 minutes the same thing happened again, this time when the referee missed a blatant deliberate knock on as Olney attacked and again Worcester took advantage, gathering the loose ball and running through to score again. 14-0 to Worcester after only 10 minutes and for a while the wheels fell off for the Olney side. Struggling to compensate for the extra player the Olney defensive line was in disarray and poor tackling against the pacey Worcester back line resulted in 3 more tries in quick succession as the visitors were in danger of being overrun.

An interception by Lizzy Adam which resulted in her going the length of the field to score under the posts gave some respite as Olney tried to re-group. This gave the visitors some heart and with the forwards dominating the scrum the game became less one sided. Worcester scored one more try but the Olney defence was much more solid and some aggressive tackling led by Lianne O’Reilly generally kept the home side at bay.

Half time Worcester 38 Olney 7

The 2nd half took a much different pattern as Olney stormed back into the game. The Olney forwards led by Jen Micklewright, O’Reilly and Fleur Shakespeare began to really dominate the Worcester pack, marching them back in the scrums and punching holes in mid-field and Olney were able to get their backs into play. Early pressure allowed Lizzy Adam to go over for a try as Olney sucked in the defence and gave the speedy full back the opportunity to sprint round the outside of the Worcester defence to score. Olney, with the slope in their favour, had been using the boot of Jen Miles to push the home side onto the defensive, but from the re-start on this occasion they elected to run from deep in their own half. The ball was dropped, Worcester turned it over and eventually scored under the posts as Olney unsuccessfully scrambled to defend.

This score proved to be crucial, but was the last time in the game that The Olney line was really threatened as the Pink Ladies stormed back and really took the game to their opponents, battering them in the forward exchanges and really pressurising the Worcester defence. A quickly taken penalty by scrum half Nikki Moore, playing against her former club, caught the Worcester defence napping, the ball was shipped to Adam who once again out-paced the defence to secure her second hat-trick in as many weeks. Jen Miles converted the try from near the touchline to the delight of her team mates.

From the re-start Olney once again worked their way into Worcester territory as the home side struggled to cope with the power of visitors’ forwards. A knock on however gave the scrum to Worcester but as they tried to escape the stranglehold they were under, Olney skipper Jen Micklewright effected a great turnover and quick hands put in the inevitable Adam for her 4 th try (9 th in the last 2 games).

With 6 minutes left Olney again camped in Worcester territory endeavouring to score the try that would give them 2 well deserved bonus points, but the home defence managed to hold firm. The final whistle went to give Worcester a 45 – 29 victory but the 14 players from Olney finished in total control of their much higher placed opponents with a full squad.

Apart from 20 minutes of madness at the start of the match, Olney continued their improvement as a side despite the perennial injuries and un-availabilities that has beset the season