A first for Olney as they travelled to what could be the Lion’s den at Peterborough having never played them here before. It was also the occasion of their annual Burns dinner which coincided with Chinese New Year so presumably it was a Chinese Burns dinner. Apparently we were reluctant to attend but they twisted our arm! Last week’s game was postponed due to frost but Olney needed to carry on where they left off after winning away at Towcester on their last outing.

Olney took to the field with a team fielding several changes, which has been something of a feature this season. It also shows the talent available as results and performances have been consistent. With the early part of the game seeing both sides have decent moments of possession and territory it seemed evident things could be close all afternoon. Both sets of forwards had spells of pressure on their opponents’ line but any real continuity was interrupted by the whistle which blew with increasing frequency. First points came courtesy of a penalty kick at goal from Dave Simpson. Harvey Dench had to go off with a knock to the shoulder to be replaced by Oscar Bennett who duly scored with his first touch of the ball, receiving the ball from his brother from the base of the scrum and dotting down under the posts. 10-0 to Olney. At times it looked as if the ball was too hot to handle when players were dropping it for no apparent reason and occasionally the ball found the wrong people without the pace to go the distance but half time arrived with Olney ahead.

The second half carried on in a similar fashion and entertained the crowd with a bit of scrappy rugby, the odd trip and a couple of cheap shots but both sides were cancelling each other out. Things looked better though when Ethan Chambers collected a clearance kick and made good yards before finding Oscar Bennett again who finished with class in the left hand corner. Back up the other end shortly after and Lions had a number of pick and drives to ultimately finish off with a try of their own. From the kick off, Olney got the better of things and Tommy Herman barged his way over to increase the lead. With Olney having the upper hand at the end of the match it was no surprise when they scored the bonus try to seal the victory. Dom Sagri rounded the defence in the final 5 minutes following some good handling by the backs to score close to the posts. Final score at 27-7 and well deserved. An interesting place to visit and a totally different type of set up to Olney but as the saying goes, it takes all sorts. Good luck to the Lions in the future.

We heard that not long ago our favourite single man had been out on the dating scene again. This time he was to try a different venue and they ended up dancing the night away at one of Milton Keynes’ up market clubs. Things were going well until they headed to the bar to cool down somewhat when he came out with what he thought was the classic compliment of “You don’t sweat much for a fat lass do you!” …………He travelled home alone.