Second win on the bounce for mens first team at Long Buckby

LONG BUCKBY vs. OLNEY Sat. 15th. Sep. 2018
Olney travelled to long time adversaries, Long Buckby, for their league fixture on Saturday. They won the toss and elected to have the benefit of the considerable slope for the first half. The home side defied the gradient for the first quarter of the match and Olney were on the defensive using their smother tactics to keep a clean sheet, despite conceding a penalty inside their '22'. From a big tackle by Dave Smith, Olney were awarded a penalty for an infringement by the home forwards. The ball was run in the backs and 'Buckby were penalised again ' not ten'. Jordan Letts kicked to touch between the home 22/5 m. lines. Olney won the lineout and drove the maul, eventually gaining a scrum on the Buckby 5m. line. They won the ball and fed the backs who made ground and passed to Glen White to touch down. Letts added the conversion and after 23 mins. Olney gained their first points. Long Buckby 0, Olney 7.
From the restart Olney counter attacked and produced good ball that was fed to Euan Irwin at '13' who carved through the opposition to score under the posts. Letts added the conversion. Long Buckby 0, Olney 14, (27 mins.).
This was a purple patch for the visitor's, from Buckby's kick off the ball was fed to Olney's '15', Lloyd Sweeney, who opened up the opposition's defence and ran almost the length of the pitch to add a further try. Long Buckby 0, Olney 21, (28 mins.).
Assisted by a number of infringements by the visitors, Buckby had a period of possession and Olney were forced to defend. They managed to repel the efforts of Buckby's forwards and gained the ball from the home side's throw in at a lineout. Olney's possession was short lived, Buckby were given a 'free kick'. They attempted to run the ball but it was claimed by the visitor's at a ruck, fed to the backs and into Irwin's hands, he beat the Buckby defence by sheer pace to score his second try. Letts added the conversion.
Long Buckby 0, Olney 28, The referee whistled for half time.
HALF TIME SCORE: LONG BUCKBY 0, OLNEY 28.
Long Buckby kicked off for the second half and Olney counter attacked taking play into Buckby's '22'. The ball was kicked to touch and Olney won the line out. Play moved to mid field and the visitors gained the ball from a ruck. They fed the backline and winger Phil Bowden used his pace (uphill ) to make his touchdown in the corner. The try was not converted Long Buckby 0, Olney 33. after 3 mins. Olney made their first substitution Christian Caswell on for Mark Austin.
Olney were guilty of offending the laws and conceded a brace of penalties in a few minutes. They managed to steal the ball in the loose and a great break by Freddie Betteridge was backed up by Irwin to add his third try. Letts went close to converting but failed to add the extra points. Long Buckby 0, Olney 38. ( 13 mins.).
From the restart Buckby took advantage of the incline and almost immediately attacked through their forwards to claim a try in the corner. Not converted. Long Buckby 5, Olney 38. Olney made a further substitutions, Richard James replacing Dave Smith and Mark Austin coming back for Guyon Bedward.
Long Buckby were making good use of their forwards and from a long clearance to the visitor's '22' forced over in the corner for a try, plus the conversion, to go into double figures Long Buckby 12, Olney 38. (20 mins.) Olney replaced prop David Rainbow, Adam Barrick coming on.
Buckby continued to whittle away at the Olney lead and added a try from a penalty on the visitor's 5 m. line. The conversion was good and the score moved on to Long Buckby 19, Olney 38. (34 mins.) The last minutes of the game produced some resolute defending by the visitors including a good break by Irwin. Buckby were not going to roll over and they added to their score in the last play of the game. They scored another try in the corner, converted to give the final result. Long Buckby 26, Olney 38.
FINAL SCORE : LONG BUCKBY 26, OLNEY 38.

TEAM: Graham Smith, Jim Osborn, David Rainbow, Guyon Bedward, Mark Austin, Gareth Carhill (capt.)
Glen White, Freddie Betteridge.
Rhys Gregory, Jordan Letts, Phil Bowden, David Smith, Euan Irwin, Stuart Livesey, Lloyd Sweeney
SUBS: Christian Caswell, Rich James, Alan Barrick.

TEAM SPONSORS:SR Osborn and Sons & DBF Construction