Lutterworth v Olney 9th December 2023

Located just off the M1 in Leicestershire, Lutterworth is possibly most famous for being the former home of the Thomson Houston works where Sir Frank Whittle developed some of the world’s first jet engines in the late 1930’s and 1940’s. Traditionally a difficult fixture and this season the Lutterworth side sit close to the top of the league so Olney were expecting a hard match. Also, in the true spirit of the festive season, Plod Soman would like to say that if anyone knows of any elderly people who will be eating alone this Christmas, could they let him know as he would like to borrow some of their chairs.

With selection headaches due to numerous injuries and unavailability Olney took to the field with a young and inexperienced team but who were up for the challenge ahead. It was clear from the early part of the match that in certain areas Lutterworth had the upper hand but the tenacity and grit shown by Olney kept them well in the game and this was a feature throughout the full 80 minutes. First score however came from the strong running Lutterworth full back when he gathered a kick on his own 22 and ended up scoring close to the posts. Olney still tried some ambitious running but turnovers allowed Lutterworth to regain possession and work their way up the field. On one such occasion a driving maul from the lineout resulted in their second try, again converted. Olney continued in the only way they know how and some good driving runs to break down the defence resulted in Rob Morgan barging his way over for the score, converted by Ewan Fuller. Olney were depleted somewhat following the issuing of a yellow card for killing the ball and late into the half Daniel Rawlings came on as replacement hooker for his first team debut having been a regular in the seconds for a number of years. No further scores and the sides turned round at 14-7 to the home side.

The second half continued in similar fashion. A clearance kick was misdirected and gave the Lutterworth full back to do what he had done earlier and evade enough tackles to score his second of the day. Olney had their moments and looked dangerous in attack but never got quite close enough to finish things off, but Lutterworth did and some sustained attack led to their bonus point try with the forwards driving over wide on the right. It was that full back again who showed the first two tries were not flukes when he added a third with more strong running to beat the defence. A quick break from a ruck gave Lutterworth their final try of the day and take the score to 38-7. A second yellow card for one of the Lutterworth props ensured he didn’t stay on the pitch to hear the final whistle, which was perhaps a tad harsh as this wasn’t a bad tempered game by any means.

Overall this was a gutsy performance from the Olney boys, many of whom had not played at this level previously but in no way did they let anyone down. It’s always difficult to single players out but Tommy Herman had a particularly good game, Josh Wheeler threw himself at just about anything and Ben Duke showed his prowess in attack. Well done to the supporters again who braved the elements and thanks to Lutterworth for their hospitality before the game.

Mr and Mrs Harris were having a romantic night in and Mr Harris took off his glasses. Mrs Harris happened to comment that she thought he looked better without them on. To which he replied, “How strange, I think you look better without my glasses on too!”…….I was a quiet night from then on.