Olney travelled again to the depths of Leicestershire to confront free-scoring, high-flying Leicester Forest who, at present, are the form team in the league and are used to winning on their artificial surface. This would not be an easy fixture but good numbers of travelling supporters went there as confident as the players of returning victorious on the day. Having been well fed and watered by the very hospitable home dignitaries, all the president’s men and numerous others ventured out on a bright and warm spring day to watch the spectacle.

Once again it was apparent that Olney would be battling against the distinct weight advantage of Leicester Forest as their side contained some considerably large individuals in both forwards and backs. The two teams showed their attacking intent early on but it was the home side who scored first when forcing a mistake at the back then robbing the ball to score from close range. 7-0. Soon after, Chris Caswell started on a run from his own 22 and seeing something was on, initiated the attack. Struan Brooks took the ball up to past half way and looked for Phil Bowden in support who did his usual and scored under the posts. As always, Jeff was well positioned with his camera to capture the moment. 7-7. One of a number of penalties allowed Forest to extend their lead to 10-7 and a rehearsed lineout move saw the Forest hooker scamper over in the corner making it 15-7. Olney then lost Jacob DeMain with a blow to the head, replaced by Chris Duck. Forest had a man in the bin for a bit of over exuberance just before the break but at half time the result was far from decided.

The second half continued in similar fashion to the first with Forest using the power up front to force penalties both in the loose and set piece so Olney had quite a bit of defending to do as the home side worked their way into what they call the red zone. Olney kicked to clear on a number of occasions but as Forest ventured back in, the almost inevitable scrum from close range gave them their third try of the day, again converted taking them further ahead at 22-7. Scrum half Dan White had to be replaced by Charlie Harris and a bit of re-shuffling occurred but Olney were still in the game. Unfortunately some of the passing was a bit wayward which let them down on occasions, allowing Forest the chance to resume their attacks. There then followed a fine spell of defence in which Olney were camped in their 22 for almost 15 minutes, much to the frustration of the home crowd and their purple headed water carrier who was promised a mention in the report for his good humoured banter and general bad chat. Well done Jordan, who it tuned out was President Paul’s son. This heroic defending eventually cracked late into the match when the Forest scrum half found a gap to dart in under the posts giving Forest a deserved bonus point and left the final score at 29-7.

Despite the end result the players did not let themselves down and this will serve as a good indication of what will possibly be the norm next season if promotion happens. Overall a thoroughly enjoyable day out and we look forward to hosting Leicester Forest when they travel to North Bucks in the future.

With the oncoming fine weather and temperatures rising, Mrs Harris was freshening the garden with new plants earlier this week to add some colour. Mr Harris kindly offered to help so was given a tray of seedlings and told to follow the instructions on the label. Mrs Harris returned later and was horrified to see him standing in a flower bed naked from the waist down and his legs open. She begged to question why and was told that the label said “Prick out two feet apart!”