This week’s guest reporter: Howie Felter

Lutterworth at home. Now there’s a challenge. A team sitting at the top of the table who haven’t lost all season but Olney have beaten them at East Street before so the chance was there to do it again. The task would not be easy but as ever the crowds gathered on the touchline and were hopeful if not expectant. In the news we heard that a local country property was broken into last week and all they took was a dozen eggs and left behind saucepans full of water. Police are looking for a gang of poachers. Searching through the archives at the club, we found an old match report when veteran scrum Ian Cox half was badly injured which prompted the headline “Olney to play with Cox out for the rest of the season.”
Prior to the kick off we welcomed slim Jim Osborn as he completed his mighty challenge of completing 7 marathons in 7 days. Well done Jim and please see his fundraising page to help his cause. For the elderly who can remember what a snickers bar was years ago, John Nicholls once finished 7 in an afternoon.

With the club buzzing due to a touring side from Taffs Wells playing earlier and two senior sides at home, the game kicked off in almost ideal conditions. Both sides looked dangerous in attack but it was evident that Lutterworth were considerably larger than the Olney squad, who again fielded several changes, and could gain an advantage through their forwards. This showed early on when they produced good ball for the backs and their full back Justin Trombas finished the move for the first score. Olney hit back through Harry Bennett who took a good inside pass to charge in under the posts. Olney then lost Hector Stanbridge to injury and his giant frame would be sorely missed up front. A further try for Lutterworth followed from a pick and go at the base of a 5m scrum to increase their lead and when Trombas gathered his own kick and galloped over from 40m it appeared as if the game was slowly slipping away from Olney’s point of view. Half time score at 7-21.

The second half continued in similar fashion with Lutterworth showing why they are top of the league with their pack dominant to give the backs a good platform to work from. Olney had some good spells though and there were some fine individual performances, particularly from the young lads who were called in to cover the injuries and unavailabilities. Well done to Louis Harper and Kurt Ledsom. The first try of the half came from a kick return and a couple of phases later Lutterworth crossed for their bonus point try. Straight from the kick off, that man Trombas ran hard down the right wing to claim his third of the afternoon. His fourth try came when he picked up the ball on his own 22 and evaded a few defenders and score close to the posts. Lutterworth fly half Luke Ball got in on the action when he scampered in from 20m.Two further tries followed when a couple of missed tackles gave the backs an easy run in and an error at a lineout was pounced on to take Lutterworth to 55 points. Olney finished the game well and Henry Warren had the final say when he ran in under the posts and left the final score 14-55. Steve said the best team won on the day.

An entertaining game and, despite the score, Olney gave a good account of themselves against a side who are destined for the next level and good luck to them. Thanks to Will and MJ Lettings for sponsoring the game and adding to the wonderful atmosphere of the day which was commented on by both home and away supporters. The shenanigans carried on well into the evening. No more comment necessary.

In his retirement, Plod Soman has taken a part-time delivery job. At one of his first drops the property owners had left a note saying “We won’t be back until evening. Please hide in the garage”. You can guess the rest! While talking of local characters, we heard that Mr Harris took a tatty stuffed dog to the Antiques Roadshow. When asked if he knew what it would fetch if it was in good condition, he replied “sticks probably”

A few pics of the match here