Today saw the gathering of the masses to attend the ever popular former players lunch when the old and infirm, the great and the good, the famous and infamous all assembled for a good catch up with friends and team-mates from days gone by. Always a wonderful occasion especially on a fine day against good opposition such as Leighton Buzzard who, in previous meetings, have always proved to be formidable opponents at all levels. With Remembrance Sunday this weekend it was also the chance for the club to pay tribute to those who we owe so much and gave the ultimate sacrifice.

In glorious sunshine and after fine dining on squirrel with new potatoes and seasonal vegetables, the crowd lined up to observe a two minutes silence prior to kick off. With the sides appearing to be fairly evenly matched in the early part of the game, it took a penalty from Buzzard to open the scoring after 10 minutes followed by a second from 40m a few minutes later to double the lead. Olney had their chances but the finishing touches were not quite enough to produce the end result. Eventually a quick tap by Ethan Chambers caught the defence napping as he ran in from almost half way. Buzzard’s next attack and sustained possession paid off when they scored wide on the right, well converted to make the score 13-5 in their favour. With Olney guilty of giving away a number of penalties it was Buzzard who worked their way close to the line and a short throw to the front of a lineout resulted in another try wide on the right, again converted to take the half time score to 5-20.

With glasses replenished, the crowd were expecting slightly more than was occurring on the pitch, with both sides guilty of failing to retain possession and committing offences to concede penalties. Despite valiant attempts to run at most opportunities, the gaps didn’t open up for Olney which is a reflection of the good defending by Buzzard. When Olney did venture into the red zone it was Chambers again who finished the move with his second of the afternoon. On a day when it seemed as if Olney were spending too much time in their own half it was always going to be difficult to close the gap in the scoreline, but in a frantic few passages of play towards the latter stages of the game they did manage to get on the scoreboard again to leave the final result at 17-20.
Unfortunately, not the outcome the players and crowd were hoping for, but it goes to show that there are a lot of sides in this league who are fairly evenly matched despite their league position and that there will be points to be earned even in defeat. Also with several changes from the previous week this result was not as disappointing as some may feel.

Back to the Harris household again where Mr Harris has found that he’s been getting quite angry when putting his clothes on and is wondering if he’s a cross dresser. With this in mind, we heard of an anecdote from a few days ago when, allegedly, someone knocked on their door and Mr Harris answered wearing high heels, lipstick, stockings and a thong. “Excuse me”, said the visitor “but is your wife at home?” To which he replied “I’ll give you two guesses!”