Wellingborough v Olney 2nd March 2024

Olney made the short trip over the border and up the hill to Wellingborough fresh from a couple of victories in their previous two matches. However, this is a notoriously tricky place to play with its own micro-climate and partisan crowd but hopes were high and the squad were well aware of the task ahead. In the news earlier this week we heard that the CEO of IKEA has just been elected as president of Sweden. The first job on his list is to assemble his cabinet!

Olney kicked off and were playing down the slope in the first half and it wasn’t long before the first try. Having worked their way up field and winning a lineout, the ball was transferred along the back line with Elliot Simpson joining the line from full back to dash over wide on the left. Boro hit back soon after when winning a lineout close to the Olney line and the heavy boys finished the short drive to score wide on the right. An excellent conversion took them two points ahead. With both sides playing some ambitious rugby in the difficult conditions the inevitable errors seemed to be a feature of the game, and from one of these Olney were able to chase upfield. Rob Morgan continued with a strong run and support from Stu Livesey finishing close to the posts put Olney back in front. Both teams were evenly matched for most of the half but towards the latter stages Olney were awarded a penalty 5m from the Boro line. Tommy Herman took some defenders with him with a fine charge which left James Bennett the room he needed to pick up and barge his way over for the try. With another conversion by Ewan Fuller and the score at half time 19-7, things looked promising for the away side.

Olney started the second half well with Mac Kitchener making good ground on the wing leading eventually to another penalty. The quick tap by old man Gareth Cahill (still defying his age) and burst for the line was off-loaded to Bennett who was on hand to force his considerable frame over for another try. Boro were not down yet and some good pressure in the Olney 22 opened some space for the backs to show their handling skills and score wide on the left. Olney had to make a couple of changes losing Josh Fadden with a suspected broken nose and Simpson with a calf injury. This didn’t detract from the way they wanted to finish with a flourish though and from a scrum 30m out, Ethan Chambers saw his chance and won the race for a fine individual try. Bennett claimed his third of the day when finishing a good team try following some excellent handling and support from both forwards and backs. Still Boro had some fight left, as we knew they would, and came back with another try of their own when a tap and drive proved to be successful again when they were close to Olney’s line. The final action of the half came when colt Arthur Betteridge weaved his way through the defence for a wonderful first senior try on his debut. Mention should go to Kieran Perkins, another colt making his first team debut who also put in a splendid performance. Proud Dads on the touchline too. Fuller, having another good day with the boot, converted again to make the final score 45-17 to Olney.

A bonus point win away at Wellingborough. Not something we can claim very often so a good day for the Olney boys and the considerable number of travelling supporters who left feeling pleased that they made the effort to come up and watch. Thanks to Wellingborough for their hospitality and no doubt we will encounter them again next season. Apparently the evening was spent in a tent in a field.

We heard that Mr Harris was attacked by one of those XL bully dogs on his postal round recently. He was explaining this to Mrs Harris and she said “Imagine if that had been a small child.” To which he replied “If it was a small child I would have probably been able to fight it off!”

Image courtesy of Adrain Howes Photos