Newbold v Olney- 6th January 2024

Happy new year everyone! For the first outing of ’24 we travelled to the wilds of Warwickshire and the quaint village of Newbold on Avon nestled just a stone’s throw from Rugby. By their own admission, their season has been of mixed fortunes and they would have preferred to be further up the table at this stage, much the same as Olney, so all to play for in this fixture. Apparently during the festive break Mr Harris received a text from Mrs Harris saying she was in casualty. He immediately rushed home and watched all 50 minutes of it and she never appeared on screen once. To cap it all she didn’t come home until late so he had to cook his own dinner.

Having seen the state of the Newbold pitch earlier in the week when it was underwater, it was fortunate the game went ahead at all. Olney won the toss and chose to play from the shallow end where they got off to the best of starts following a scrum from a wayward kick off. Harvey Dench made the break, feeding Charlie Hicks who scored right of the posts then converted his own try after just two minutes. Shortly after this Olney worked their way into the 22 and forced a penalty which was quickly taken and whipped out to Mackenzie Ewing on the left wing for the second try. Hicks aimed his conversion at the crossbar and scored a direct hit. The next Olney attack saw a decoy move at the base of the scrum and Ethan Chambers picking up the pieces to dart over for Olney’s third try after only 10 minutes. Newbold then discovered their form and came back into the game well courtesy of a few turnovers and both sides were evenly matched for the next 20 minutes or so. Newbold were hampered by a yellow card late in the half for a bit of petulance so Olney took advantage and several good attacking phases resulted in Rob Morgan crashing through the defence for a bonus point try just before half time. Ewan Fuller converting to leave the half time score at 24-0.

The second half seemed to be developing similar to the first with Olney immediately on the attack but Ben Duke was held up over the line and gave Newbold the chance to clear from deep. With the game not really flowing due to injuries and penalties it was difficult for either side to gain any sort of advantage in attack. Newbold were next on the scoreboard though when their fly half found a gap to score under the posts. When Harry Bennett replaced Luca Proietti at prop, Olney had 4 Bennetts on the pitch, one of whom would surely score sometime later. Olney found it difficult to find gaps in the solid defence but a sustained attack in the 22 eventually gave Tommy Herman a chance to burrow his way over from close range. Josh Wheeler replaced Ewan Fuller and looked as if he was relishing his opportunity to show off his skills as a winger. Late in the half the game degenerated somewhat with both sides making errors but still looking to add to their total. Olney came off best after some wild open running and one of the Bennetts (Oscar) eventually scoring behind the goalposts. An easy conversion to take the game to 38 – 7 to Olney and the final whistle.

An interesting afternoon out and we thank Newbold for putting the game on after the previous week’s rain and for their hospitality. One thing that was pointed out to this reporter however, was how foul the language both on and off the pitch was throughout the afternoon. We’ve all heard it before but perhaps not at that level. Children and families may be put off. Enough said.

Single man Plod Soman has been out on the dating scene again over the winter break. We have been told he has been out a few times with an English teacher but she kept correcting his grammar when they were being intimate. She was particularly annoyed at his improper use of the colon.