First match of the New Year and a short trip to Northampton and Old Scouts, who must have acquired some nocturnal habits in recent years as many of their matches have been played at night. The vampires in their squad would certainly be out for blood, after narrowly losing to Olney earlier in the season and have been trying to close the points gap at the top of the table ever since. This would prove to be a stern test against a very good side with a very partisan home support.

On a bitingly cold evening Olney took to the field with a strong side despite a few absentees due to circumstances beyond their control. However, they showed their attacking intent early on with some strong runs into the Scouts 22 only to be thwarted by some strong defence by the home side. This defence was breached after 10 minutes when Elliot Simpson spotted a gap behind and threaded a grubber for Ewan Fuller to dive on over the line. Fuller converting his own try for a 7-0 lead. Scouts were also intent on attacking though, and were more than capable of gaining ground with the ball in hand and soon were awarded a penalty on the 10m line. The attempt missed but Scouts were in Olney territory, their marginally heavier pack were on the front foot and winning more penalties. One of these allowed a kick to the corner and almost predictably the catch and drive resulted in the try for Scouts. End to end stuff and this was always going to be a close game. Olney were in the Scouts 22 on a few occasions but turnovers gave Scouts the chance to clear. Late in the half, Struan Brooks did manage to plant the ball over the try line wide on the right but was rightly deemed to have a foot in touch just prior to the grounding so no try awarded.

The second half played out in similar fashion with both sides cancelling each other out in attack with stern defence and the game still too close to call. One consistency was the number of penalties conceded for various infringements. With tries seemingly hard to come by, Scouts took the opportunity with one of these in front of the posts to take the lead at 8-7. Olney then had a lengthy spell in their own 22 when they soaked up the pressure from Scouts which showed the capabilities of the home side but also how well Olney can defend. A couple of breaks by Brooks and Ash Elvers from deep had Scouts chasing back to just stop the attack close to the line but conceding a penalty in the process on one occasion giving Fuller the chance to regain the lead at 10-8. A nasty injury to centre Stu Livesey meant he had to leave the field and Olney made other changes at the same time. Scouts did have further spells in the Olney 22 and inevitably more penalties, one of which was kicked to the corner for the lineout. The catch and drive ensued and after what felt like the longest stop/start maul of the season, Scouts had their second try to go 13-10 ahead.

Both sides had given their all but this ended up the final score and Scouts celebrated well at the final whistle as they moved to 3 points behind Olney at the head of the table. This is a brief report on what was a good game of rugby with several players performing very well, showing the strength the club has throughout the senior section, particularly when many are the product of the minis, juniors and colts. Long may it continue.

Well done to all who turned out to support on a chilly night and this support is much appreciated by the playing squad particularly at away games.

A New Year story was re-told earlier in the week. When spotting Mr Harris walking his dog, the local vicar, reverend Andrew offered a cheery wave and hailed “Love your neighbour!” The reply came back “So do I. Cracking pair of legs on her!”