9th November 2019 - Olney V Market Harborough

Olney welcomed old friends and rivals Market Harborough who were also promoted last season but seemed to have had the better results so far in this campaign although the expectation was this would be a close game. As the teams lined up for the two minutes silence in memory of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, the rain fell and would continue to do so for the rest of the afternoon. A feast of running rugby would not be on the cards.

Harborough had the better of the early exchanges and a kick to the corner gave them an attacking lineout 5m from the try line but the defence held firm and Olney were able to move back up the pitch. The next stages of the game seemed to take place between the two 22m lines with neither side being able to gain a clear advantage over the other. Eventually Olney crossed the 22 after several phases of recycling the ball but then conceded a penalty allowing Harborough to escape. This was only temporary as more pressure in the 22 caused the away side to concede the penalty allowing Ollie Betteridge to add the first 3 points of the match after 29 minutes. Shortly after this Harborough made the scores level with a successful penalty of their own. When Olney found themselves back in the opposition 22 again pressurising the Harborough line, the penalty inevitably came. This time however, they decided to be more ambitious by opting to go for the lineout and not the 3 points but unfortunately it wasn’t to pay off and Olney came away with no reward. Harborough did have another penalty attempt at the end of the half but this fell short and the sides turned round level at 3-3.

With the weather no better and the cold setting in, the brave and hardy souls who huddled up to witness the second half were not expecting to see much different to what had occurred in the previous 40 minutes. They were more or less correct, although things started to look up after a fine run from Struan Brooks to the right hand corner set up a ruck and after a few pick and go attempts, prop Graham Smith scored the first try of the encounter which wasn’t converted but Olney were now 8-3 ahead. The game then mirrored the first half for long periods with no side really having the upper hand. Market Harborough forwards then took a little more control of the ball and after a spell of pressure close to the Olney posts resulted in 3 scrum penalties and Olney prop Smith told to take a seat in the bin for 10 minutes. The resulting scrum meant Olney were on the back foot again and Harborough scored under the posts, converted to put them in the lead 10-8 for the first time.

Olney again showed their positive attitude and were soon back in front when another Betteridge penalty changed the score back in favour of the home side to 11-10. With the game drawing to a close and conditions no better it was time to possibly stuff it up the jumper and play things tight, which both sides seemed intent on doing. Not a real spectacle but the home crowd were not overly concerned as “we were winning”.
The twist at the end though was not in the script. Harborough kicked long and Olney had a lineout in their own 22 which they duly won. What wasn’t expected was trying to then run it from close to their own line when perhaps the better option would have been to keep it a little closer to the pack, and not look for the aforementioned feast of running rugby at this stage of the proceedings. Unfortunately a knock on in front of the posts 5m from the line gave Harborough the put in at the scrum. They then brought back on their second row who had been yellow carded earlier to bring their pack up to full strength and the pressure on the home side at this scrum resulted in a penalty try at the last play giving Harborough the victory 17-11.

No blame, no shame and in the conditions, a good performance by the Olney side who were just a little unfortunate to be in second place in a close fought contest. Sometimes games are won or lost by small margins and this was one of those games.