Back on the road again to the wilds of Northamptonshire and the delights of Towcester, where several elderly club members will have memories of losses in the mud and wet on a gloomy Saturday in January. Times change though, and having won well against them earlier in the season at home, Olney would be hoping for another favourable result. Once again the travelling band of loyal followers were on the touchline in good numbers despite the weather not being suited to shorts and T-shirts.

Thankfully the rain eased off prior to kick off which must have been of some relief to payers and spectators alike. It was Olney who looked sharper in the early stages and had the first points on the board after 5 minutes when a fine driving maul took them 25m to within striking distance to then release the backs who put it through the hands to James Gardner who scored wide on the right. Tows were clearing the ball well from their own half with the wind behind them and put pressure on the Olney line which was eventually breached to level the score. Shortly after, the Tows forwards had another burst of energy and found a gap in the Olney defence to double their lead. Good defending from Olney saw Tows held up over the line twice and they had to resort to kicking for goal for their next points. Unfortunately the post got in the way and from the rebound Tommy Herman collected the ball and raced away up field. His offload found Jim Osborn on the charge who then made another 25m with players hanging off him and others bouncing out of the way. Gardner was on hand to continue the move and despite a timely tap tackle he got up again to sprint to the line. The game was a bit frantic at times with both sides guilty of handling errors, but possibly understandable in the cold and wet. Half time at 10-10 and the game could go to either side.

After the break it appeared that one or two chances were going begging as a few errors continued the theme of the first half. Both sides were evenly matched and had spells of pressure in their opponents half. Olney had to kick for goal themselves for their next points with Ewan Fuller chipping over the penalty from close range to put the visitors in front. After this a bit of comedy rugby ensued. With the ball bobbling all over, it somehow found its way to the grateful hands of Lloyd Sweeney who ran in from 10m to score under the posts. After the conversion that followed, Olney were now 10 points ahead with the game drawing to its latter stages. Tows continued to attack as they had done all game but their efforts were thwarted by some stern defence. The final score at 20-10 to Olney was a good result as Towcester is never the easiest place to travel to and come away with a win. Some fine individual performances on the day but the forwards showed particular resolve, being well led by captain Eddie Goss. There appeared to have been few celebrations later, and why not! Enough said.

This week we learned that Plod Soman wished to put his talents to good use and offered his services to the Milton Keynes sperm bank. They gave him a jar and sent him away to bring back a sample. On his return 2 days later he had the jar but unfortunately it was still empty. When the nurse asked why, he had to explain that he tried with both hands but to no avail. He called the lady from next door who even tried using her mouth with her teeth both in and out. In the end she called her husband round to have a go but they still couldn’t get the lid off the jar.