Another road trip, this time to the historic market town of Stamford. Always a warm welcome and often a difficult team to play against so Olney would have no need to be complacent after a string of good results so far this season in the league. At this point we have to go back on a decision from September not to name the winger who likes to chat to the spectators. After much pleading we can now mention his name again, that man is Marcus Goss. Related to Eddie Goss there is a marked difference in size as Eddie is huge and Marcus is not, although he may still be growing as he appears to be growing through his hair. Good chap though and always plays with a smile on his face. He likes to see his name in the match reports so here it is and he probably hasn’t had this much exposure since he got his willy out in the home corner at nursery school.

On to the match itself. Olney kicked off with the wind and sun at their backs down the slight slope so would look to build up a points advantage in the first half. The first points on the board came from that man Marcus Goss who was on the end of a sweeping backs move to score a classic wingers try in the corner. Flanker Sven Meiland also fancied his chances as a winger when he collected the ball wide on the right to gallop over for the second try, this time converted by Elliot Simpson to take the score to 0-12 after ten minutes. The pace of the game was quickening with Olney taking the initiative and after a quick penalty, Ewan Fuller cut a good angle at speed to split the defence and score to the right of the posts.
Stamford were still well into the game though and enjoyed some good spells with the ball, particularly when some indifferent passing by the boys in cerise gave them the opportunity. Olney had to reshuffle a bit after injuries to Simpson and Harvey Dunn but continued with the quick running game and were rewarded when Struan Brooks burst into the line after a successful scrum to touch down. Winger Phil Bowden also scored wide on the left before Stamford had their best period of the game so far when they added two tries of their own. The first from a lineout drive and the second, also from the forwards, when they kept the ball well and drove over from close range, taking the score to 10-38 at half time.

The last part of the first half was a warning of what Stamford were capable of so Olney had to maintain their discipline and keep hold of the ball as much as possible. Stamford did have a lot of the ball early on but were also pinned in their own half and the kick to clear only allowed the Olney backs a chance to run back at them with hooker Will Eccleston in support to be next on the scoresheet for the away side, dotting down on the left for a fine individual try. This was followed shortly after by another when Bowden finished off a fine move by the backs for his second of the day. Olney seemed to be back in control now and a penalty kick to the corner led to the lineout which was duly won and Alex Hales used his considerable bulk to rumble over from 5 metres out.
Stamford still fought hard though but a mistake when attacking in the Olney 22 was hacked up field by Marcus Goss who had Bowden in support to finish for his third of the day. From a scrum on half way, some good interplay between Goss and Brooks allowed Brooks the chance to score wide on the right, and he too ended up with three for the day when he outran the defence from deep to touch down under the posts. The last two tries converted by Jacob DeMain on a difficult day for the kickers resulted in the final score of 10-67 which wasn’t as one-sided as the score suggests and the victory was well earned.

A fine result on the road for the firsts and with the 2nd and 3rd team also winning way from home, this just shows the strength in depth at the club at present and long may it continue. There was also some good support from the club at Stamford too which is always nice for the players. We were going to give Mr and Mrs Harris a break this week but the stories keep coming in. Rumour has it that they went abroad on holiday one year and Mrs Harris observed that the plane had been redesigned internally and that the toilets now had a window in. However, she mentioned to Mr Harris there were no blinds on said window, to which he replied that if some peeping Tom was clinging to the outside of that window at 35,000 feet he deserved to have a damned good look!