Wellingborough v Olney 16th November 2024
This week’s guest reporter: Norma Snockers

The travelling band of supporters rugged up warm for the annual trip to Wellingborough high on the hill with its own climate system anticipating the usual hard fixture with one of our closest and longest standing rivals. Coats, scarves and hats are usually necessary, although a dyslexic Yorkshireman was spotted wearing a cat flap! Our hosts are always generous and hospitable off the pitch and a warm welcome awaits in their clubhouse each year. In the news this week we heard that Apple has shelved its latest launch of an ipad for children when someone pointed out that the itouch kids was probably not the best name for it.

Boro’ started the game well using the slope and a bit of breeze to their advantage and made good ground into Olney territory. Good defence kept them at bay and a missed penalty shot at goal was all they had to show for their efforts. It took a while for Olney to get into their stride which was not surprising with 7or 8 changes to last week’s starting line-up but when they put the ball through the hands following a quick Ethan Chambers tapped penalty, Henry Warren had the space to beat his opposite number and score wide on the right. Converted by Charlie Hicks. Some more good runs and flowing moves gave the indication Olney could score more but, unfortunately they couldn’t convert this into points and Boro’ played their own style well to set themselves up for a scrum close to the line. Their pack did its job and gave the backs a chance to score, which the centre took well with a try under the posts. This being the last action of the half and the scores level at 7-7.

The start of the second half didn’t go according to plan from Olney’s point of view when a 5m lineout for Boro’ was won to set up the pack with a driving maul and put the next points on the board for the home side. What happened for the rest of the half seemed as if it was only a matter of time before Olney levelled the scores again as they had the majority of possession and territory. Without blaming any of the players on the pitch, while also giving credit to Wellingborough, it’s surprising that the score stayed the same until the final whistle as Boro’ rarely ventured into the Olney half. Olney attacked but were continually thwarted by some resolute defending and despite trying to play a running game, it seemed as if the runs were always at a packed defence rather than finding spaces as they have done so well in previous matches this season. Credit to Wellingborough for preventing any more scores and forcing turnovers and errors to stop the Olney attack when it mattered. There may have been more action to describe than is written here but this reporter spent several minutes discussing with the Stanbridge family how much truth there is in the reports and why Hector can have a mention this week while he’s still got some toys left in his pram! Final score 12-7 to Boro’.

This goes to show that there are no easy games in this league and that there is always the capability to beat sides regardless of league position. A little hiccup in the winning run for Olney but as ever they will bounce back from this and continue to entertain the loyal band of supporters.
We heard that Mr Harris was involved in a car accident last week when apparently he crashed into a stop sign. The sign was slightly bent and there was a small scratch on the front of his car, both of which could be repaired fairly easily and cheaply. It wasn’t all good news though as he could tell from the screams of the children that the lollipop man was in a pretty bad state.