This week’s guest reporter: Tanya Hyde

There must be better places to be than on a hill outside Wellingborough on a damp Friday evening. We’re not always keen on a Friday night game, but here we are visiting our friends over the border with both sides looking to pick up points as the end of the season draws closer. In the local news, our favourite single man decided to enhance his dating profile with some fancy wording so took to reading a dictionary in bed. Not a total success as he had to keep stopping when he got up to P.

There must have been other distractions for the evening as the crowd was not as big as it might have been but the supporters must be pleased that they turned up to watch what turned out to be a good game of rugby. With a young side featuring present and recent colts, Olney were always going to be under a bit of pressure in the set piece due to the heavy and experienced ‘Boro pack but early on Ethan Chambers showed good skill behind a retreating scrum and found Mac Kitchener who rounded the defence for the first try. Ewan Fuller converting. It wasn’t long before ‘Boro were using their weight advantage though and the pressure told with their first try under the posts. The home side had the upper hand so Olney knew they had to be sharp with ball in hand and indeed this was the case when Chambers again saw a gap from a ruck to then feed Harvey Dench who ran in for the try. With the scrum penalty count rising, the inevitable happened and Lenny Idiakhoa was singled out for a 10 minute spell in the bin. ‘Boro made use of the extra man during this period and scored two tries in quick succession to take them into the lead. Late in the half Denchy was on the score sheet again when he charged over for his second which took the half time score to 19-21

At the start of the second half Olney put together some good phases and when Henry Warren collected a kick from Fuller, debutant Ronan Perkins was on hand to receive the scoring pass. With Olney now holding their own in the scrums (must be Graham Smith!) things were looking better. The next try was a pleasure to watch. Mac Kitchener gathered a loose ball on the half way line and, by his own admission, didn’t know what to do next apart from run. Thankfully he ran in the right direction, avoiding several tackles and by the time he got to the 22 he had a bit more open space to run at, so he did and scored a fine individual try close to the posts. With ‘Boro down to 14 it was Olney’s turn to exert pressure in the areas that mattered and after several attempts battering the line it was young prop Monty Lee who emerged with the ball after crossing the line under a pile of bodies. Fuller on kicking duties adding the extras. ‘Boro did have life left in them though, as we knew they would, and with their next foray into the Olney 22 came away with another try for a bonus point of their own. The final action of the half was when Chambers flung a delightful long pass out to another debutant, Dylan French, who took the ball flat out and there was no stopping him as he scampered over to take the score at the whistle to 24-45 in Olney’ favour.

As mentioned earlier, those who went to watch were glad they did and there were a few proud parents on the touchline to see the progression of the club’s young players though to the seniors and particularly being able to cope at first team level. We probably won’t win the league this year but the future looks bright. Unfortunately we may not see Wellingborough next season but will look forward to our next fixture against them in the near future and wish them well.

Things you never knew about club members….. Today it’s Dave “Haggis” Atkins, ORFC founder member, man who proves Darwin’s theory and all round top bloke. He’s only recently revealed that he was once a test pilot for the original Spitfire and flew several missions over enemy lines during the war. Apparently he had a booster seat so he could actually see out of the cockpit! Finally we heard that Mr and Mrs Harris have decided to collect antique furniture. Their latest purchase is a piano stool with a large dirty brown stain on the seat which the dealer convinced them was part of Beethoven’s last movement.