Olney v Nuneaton 14th October 2023

After a weekend off with no league fixtures we welcomed Nuneaton to East Street for the first time as they have only moved to Regional 2 East Midlands this season. Nuneaton is the largest town in Warwickshire and gained its name from a medieval nunnery. It was famous in the past for coal mining and ribbon weaving. Something we learned recently is that, despite losing his hair many years ago, it’s a little known fact that Dean Crafter still carries a comb in his pocket. It seems he just can’t part with it.

The first thing noticeable about the Nuneaton side as they emerged from the changing rooms is that they seemed slightly larger than the Olney boys. This proved to be a factor early on when a couple of scrums 5m out led to the first pushover try to the visitors. 5 minutes later Olney worked their way into the 22 and good interplay between Ewan Fuller and Oscar Bennett saw Bennett score to the right of the posts. Next score came courtesy of a bullocking run by Josh Fadden who thoroughly deserved his moment of glory. Unfortunately Olney didn’t deal with the kick off particularly well and allowed Nuns too much space which saw their winger score wide on the left to level the scores after a fine conversion. Back up the other end, Lewis Schael forced his sizeable frame over the line from a lineout to put Olney ahead. With the play going from end to end, it came as no surprise that Nuns went ahead again after a missed tackle let them through for another score. Soon after this the Nuns forwards gained a bit of superiority and a second pushover try gave them a bonus point for the afternoon. Again, from a number of scrums close in, the Nuns scrum half eventually seized the opportunity to dart over for a fifth try, again converted, to further increase the lead. Strong running down the left towards the end of the half gave their winger enough room to add another to take the half time score to 40-19 in the visitors favour. Physio Sinead was kept busy for most of the afternoon and she was ably assisted by trained midwife Beth Soman. A comment from the touchline wondered if she was there in case Rich Cowan gave birth!

The second half continued in much the same manner with both sides intending to play the running game and increasing their scoreline. Nuns got close enough for a shot at goal with a penalty and accepted the chance for an easy three points. Shortly after, following some good ball retention and quick recycling, Rob Morgan scored under the posts to give Olney a bonus point try, again converted by Ewan Fuller. Another case of not being quite sharp enough in the tackle department let Nuns get a head of steam up and finally cross the line for another try. As ever, the Olney boys were still pushing for further tries and Bennett bagged his second of the day following a bit of individual brilliance. Prop Leonard Idiakhoa had only one thing on his mind from a lineout close to the Nuns line when he burst through the defence for a well deserved score. Nuns then camped themselves in the Olney 22 for the final minutes and despite the crowd in front of the hut deciding the ball was knocked on over the line, the referee decided otherwise and the try left the final score at 40 – 55 with Nuneaton victorious.

Despite the result this was another entertaining game and the supporters went away not too disappointed because both sides contributed with some good spells of running rugby. It came down to the winning side making fewest mistakes on the day. Thanks also to Tom and his team at Polar Events for sponsoring today’s game and for his support throughout the season.

Well known single man Plod Soman is back on the dating scene again, this time with an interesting lady who claims to occasionally identify as a wheelie bin. This confused him slightly as he didn’t know whether to take her out on Tuesday or Wednesday.