After last week’s nail-biting finish Olney were hoping to carry on their winning ways against an Oadby side who are always competitive and with whom we have had some close matches in the past. With winter approaching and pitches getting wetter there is a possibility some of the sides with heavier packs would play a different style to Olney’s fast paced game but hopefully we can combat this and entertain the crowds as usual. With a Halloween social event in the evening there was plenty to look forward to. In the local news we have an announcement from the neighbourhood flasher. He will be continuing but please don’t be disappointed that when it gets extremely cold he will only be describing himself to people.

Straight from the kick off it was clear that Olney would be running at most opportunities and the backs were stretching the Oadby defence with some fast paced action. This brought them to within striking distance of the line and a lineout won gave young hooker Joe Baker the chance to drive over for the score. Converted by Charlie Hicks. More of the same followed and Olney increased the score when some good work by the forwards allowed Ethan Chambers to pick up from the ruck with a little show and go and he crossed for Olney’s second of the day. A slight delay followed when the Oadby flanker suffered a nasty knee injury and had to leave the field. We wish him well.
As mentioned earlier, Oadby are always competitive and forced Olney to give away a few penalties. One on half-way was moved forward 10m for some inappropriate comments which allowed the kick at goal to give Oadby their first points. The deficit was reduced further when a 5m lineout move proved successful and the converted try meant Olney just had a 4 point lead. Olney still looked threatening with ball in hand but some resolute defending and a couple of handling errors at crucial moments kept the score closer than it perhaps should have been. Two successful penalties from Hicks did put Olney ahead by 10 points at half time with the score at 20-10.

The second half continued in similar fashion with Olney attacking well but not quite able to finish with the tries they were looking for. Two more Hicks penalties widened the gap somewhat but Oadby could still be a threat. With a bit of a stalemate mostly between the two 22m lines and the crowd waiting for a bit more action, it was Oadby who eventually worked their way to the Olney line. The forwards took control with a catch and drive from a lineout for their second try of the afternoon. Shortly after, following a few penalties they had managed to kick their way back into Olney territory and a carbon copy of the previous catch and drive narrowed the score to 6 points. As the game was drawing to its conclusion, Olney’s expansive game paid off with some strong running and clinical handling along the left flank saw Arthur Betteridge gallop over for the last action of the day. Final score 31-20 to the home side.

A good result for Olney which kept them at the top end of the league but they may feel that there could have been a bonus point too had things gone according to plan. Steve said well done for taking the points from the kicks which proved to be decisive. Apparently a few shenanigans later in the evening would probably mean some sore heads next day but great to see the teams enjoying a social. Wish someone would have turned up as Stephen Hawking though!

In the local news we also learned recently that a fertility clinic is giving sperm donors a pay rise so they will now receive £55.00 per visit. This was of interest to some of our players who realised how much money could be slipping through their fingers.