Olney made the short trip to Billing Road with a youngish side consisting of a few changes from previous weeks, due to injuries and unavailability, which seems to be the norm for this season. It would help enormously right through the playing section of the club if more players could commit to training and regular availability on Saturdays. Despite this, and the welcome return of captain Gareth Cahill, confidence was high.

Olney started the match playing up the slope and made good use of possession to make headway into the ON’s defence and looked sharp with ball in hand, but it was ON’s who scored first with a try, driving over wide on the left after their third lineout five yards out following penalties conceded by the Olney pack. Olney were soon back up the other end though and some swift handling by the backs saw Noddy Deighton gain good ground and release Josh Meadows with space to run in a fine try, well converted by Ollie Betteridge. Olney 7-5 ahead. What was to follow was not what the coaches or supporters were expecting. The Olney side allowed ON’s to have the upper hand in the match instead of building on the lead they deserved. The ON’s centre scored from an interception when a long pass on the 22 didn’t quite reach its target, and a glaring missed tackle allowed the second row to run over from 20 metres out to score close to the posts. It seemed as if Olney were putting themselves under unnecessary pressure at times and a penalty in front of the posts added to the two converted tries making the half time score to 22-7 to the home side.

The second half saw much of the same pattern and ON’s were soon on the scoreboard when they were awarded a penalty 5 metres out and a tap and go gave them the bonus point try. ON’s were now playing with a little more fluidity allowing their pacey back line to run from deep and they scored a converted try wide on the left taking the score to 34-7. Olney flanker Harry Sturley pulled one back when he drove over from close range but ON’s were still intent on building on their advantage and scored two more through their backs. One wide on the right after a couple of missed tackles and one under the posts after the defence had been stretched and they were able to cut back inside. The score was now 48-12 but what happened in the final 10 minutes was something of a revelation. A bit of reshuffling using the replacements meant the shape of the side was slightly different and Olney realised they had nothing to lose. They took the game by surprise and started to play with confidence and freedom. The forwards, led by Captain Cahill who showed he had been missed so far this season, started to win possession and the backs were making yards with the ball. Some good movement and handling by Stu Livesey and debutant Joe Brock gave Deighton the sniff of the chance he needed to skip round his opposite man and score on the right. Good hands again gave winger Aaqil Attah the opportunity to show is pace and power when he ran in under the posts from 40 metres. A cross kick from Betteridge on 80 minutes was superbly collected on the full by Meadows who scored his second of the afternoon.

The final score ended up at 48-31 to Old Northamptonians and this was probably a fair result. However, judging on the first 10 and the last 10 minutes (ignoring the hour in between!) there is more to this Olney side than the score suggests and the league position indicates. It shows what can be achieved when they play with pace, accuracy and aggression and the feeling of enjoyment from the latter stages of the game when playing the style of rugby they are capable of should be taken forward to the rest of the season.