With the days getting colder and winter draws on it was the turn of Lutterworth to play hosts to the travelling first and second teams. Always a warm welcome from a club who traditionally have been at a similar level to ourselves and have enjoyed varying successes over the years. Olney’s coaches had several headaches with selection during the week but managed to put out a good side albeit with several changes, both positional and with players.

On a blustery day with the wind blowing straight up the pitch, Olney played the first half with the wind in their favour and started with their usual intent of an open expansive game. The Lutterworth defence proved to be made of stern stuff though, and were equal to everything that was coming towards them. When the attacks faltered, the home side were capable of turning the play round to run deep into the Olney half. A 5m scrum inevitably led to the pushover try under the posts. A pacey move down the right flank with support from the scrum half gave Lutterworth another to increase their lead. Olney then had captain Eddie Goss leave the field with a head injury to be replaced by colt Harry Bennett. Despite valiant efforts by Olney it was Lutterworth’s forwards who claimed the next points when driving over from a maul in the corner, again well converted for a 21 point lead. From the kick off a penalty on the 22 was quickly taken by Ethan Chambers who surprised the defenders to score close to the posts. Unfortunately for Olney, two further Lutterworth tries left them 31-7 down at the break.

Olney didn’t feel as if the scoreline was going to affect the way they were playing and battled well for long periods to nullify several attacks from the strong Lutterworth pack. James Bennet should be singled out for a particularly outstanding performance all afternoon. The cause wasn’t aided either, when prop Jim Osborn had to take 10 minutes in the bin for apparently collapsing the scrum. The home side’s pressure told after 20 minutes when again, the forwards had the upper hand to drive over for the score. A flash of individual brilliance from Struan Brooks gave the crowd something to marvel at when he ran from fully 60 metres to evade several tackles and score under the posts. Lutterworth replied with a try of their own. A fine burst by the Olney backs, finished by Lloyd Sweeney added to the tally and a Chambers burst with good support, then finished by him gave Olney a bonus point try. The final act of the half belonged to Lutterworth when the pressure told and they managed to breach the defence for a further try leaving the final score at 46-24.

Despite the end result there can be no blame or shame aimed at the players on the day. With the average age of the pack at under 20 and the back line not much older, this was a good performance against a strong side who are sitting well towards the top of the league table. The rest of the season looks promising.

We understand Plod Soman has been out on the dating scene again, this time with a lady of advanced years and considerably older than him. At the end of the evening when things seemed to be progressing as usual with events such as this, the lady in question thought she had better warn him she had acute angina. His response to that was “Thank goodness for that, because to be honest, your top half’s not that special!”