Another first this week as we travelled to Hinckley who we have not played before in the league. A strong club who, at first team level, compete in National 2. Their second XV gained promotion to level 6 last season so this would be a stern test for the young Olney side. The club is still looking for a new scribe to carry on with the weekly match reports so if you think you can produce more of this cholesterol of verbal banality to clog up the arteries of the internet then please get in touch. In the news since the last report we have heard that a local man now wishes to identify as a chocolate orange. Apparently he has just been sectioned.

Here's the match in picture form - https://www.olneyrfc.co.uk/photos/20261003--1st-xv-vs-hinkley-ii-a-1179777.html

At first sight, the prospect of competing against a large bunch of humans would seem to be a daunting prospect. What followed though was a good game of rugby in which Olney competed well in all aspects and came off best in most. The first twenty minutes in particular was dominated by the young Olney side and when the ball was spilled from a Hinckley attack it fell to Henry Warren who rounded two men to then run the length for the first try, converted by Will Brock. A 5m lineout after a tremendous kick by Brock from his own half gave Will Ecclestone the chance to burrow over for a second score, again converted. A break from deep was initiated by Nathan Merridan and followed up by Brock who passed back to Merridan for the third. Some big hits were going in and on the hard ground this took its toll with a few stoppages and Reon Gilbert-Joseph having to leave the field injured. The pack were doing a grand job of negating any dominance Hinckley may have wished for with Ted Ferris sniffing round the breakdown like a dog on heat and captain Josh Fadden leading by example. A mistake in the 22 was pounced upon by Merridan who scampered over to add the bonus point try for the afternoon and take the score to 0-24. With the last play of the half Hinckley pulled one back with a catch and drive to take the score at the break to 5-24.

The second half started with Hinckley on a bit of a roll and after spending time in the Olney 22 the defence cracked and they scored under the posts. Olney had to re-shuffle somewhat when Max Day went of injured but confidence was still high and they still had the intent to attack whenever the occasion arose. Hinckley now had the upper hand though and were playing to their strengths by keeping the ball a bit tighter to their forwards and denying Olney much possession. This resulted in their third try when a kick through was followed up and touched down wide on the left. Next time Olney visited the Hinckley end it was Ecclestone again who sneaked round the blind side of a maul to claim his second of the day. Both sets of forwards were looking a bit worse for wear by this stage (hardly surprising given the conditions) but the Bennett brothers knew their father was on the touchline and their efforts would give him something to talk about for the rest of the weekend. Hinckley got back to within a score when they grabbed an interception to run in beneath the posts. Both sides were reduced to 14 when Eliot Simpson had go off injured after he was nearly launched to the adjacent pitch by a ludicrous late hit/kick and the perpetrator receiving a yellow card which by his own admission should have been red. The final action saw Lewis Schael cap a fine afternoon’s work by driving over from close range. The conversion from Brock taking the final score to 36-24 in Olney’s favour. A great team performance to seal the victory and keep us at the top end of the table at this early stage of the season.

A grand day out for the faithful followers and what better way to spend an afternoon in the sunshine. Surely there will be harder times ahead in what should be a very competitive league but with the way the young side played today we should be confident of being well entertained on the touchline all season. For those who rarely travel to the away matches… try it, the team appreciates it and you can still get home in time to watch some dismal Saturday night TV if that’s what floats your boat.

Rumour has it that Mr Harris went for his prostate examination procedure recently. When he asked the doctor where he should put his pants, the reply of “Over there on the chair next to mine!” wasn’t the answer he was expecting.

This week’s guest reporter: Anita Bush