Olneys 2nds made the short trip across North Beds to play Sharnbrook and Colworth in a friendly match and the first early winter start of the season. The game proved to be frantic and entertaining but once again Olney came out on the wrong side of a high scoring encounter.

Olney kicked off to start the match and maintained early pressure in the hosts 22 but from an early penalty Sharnbrook chose to run the ball and kicked through into Olney territory .From the resulting goal line drop out Olney defended well against the home sides forwards, won a midfield scrum and ran the ball back at their opponents whose defence also held firm. Despite being under pressure Olney held their scrum ball on the Sharnbrook 22 but the ball was lost just short of the line. This was to be the blueprint for the match, end to end stuff with some sterling defence and plenty of handling errors from both sides to scupper try scoring opportunities

Sharnbrook once again ran the ball out of defence but great tackling from Hector Stanbridge and Callum Earl won a penalty which Olney kicked deep into opposition territory. The lineout was lost but from the resulting clearance play anywhere Stanbridge (at fullback today) countered with a mazy run and kick through which brought great applause from the Olney contingent on the touchline. Olney were running the ball at every opportunity but close quarter handling was letting them down, giving Sharnbrook the opportunity to capitalise on loose ball and counter with some hard running of their own. A combined tackle from Tom Rance and Callum Earl defended the Olney line but sustained pressure resulted in a 5 metre scrum and but for a forward pass Sharnbrook would have had the first points of the day. As if to maintain the mayhem Olney ran the ball from the resulting scrum , won a scrum on the Sharnbrook 10 metre line and set up centre Leonard Idiakhoa to burst through the middle but once again the ball was lost with the line beckoning. Stanbridge then made a last ditch tackle as Sharnbrook broke through in midfield. More frantic play from both sides and after a great steal by Matt Rawlinson at the ruck Olney once again advanced into Sharnbrook territory but the attack was once again snubbed out and the ball turned over. This time Sharnbrook were able to break through down the middle of the pitch and score under the posts after 30 minutes. The try was converted for 7-0. Olney totally lost concentration from the restart and allowed the catcher to run threequarters the length of the pitch without a finger laid on him to immediately score his team’s second try and Olney suddenly found themselves 14-0 down approaching half time.

The second restart was much better from Olney’s point of view and a storming run from Stan Allen gave the side hope of reducing the deficit. However a penalty against Olney for backchat to the referee enabled the home side relieve the pressure and set up their own attack. Olney were never able to recover possession and the home sides forwards drove over for a 3rd converted try and a 21-0 scoreline. With half time quickly approaching Olney had one final opportunity to get on the scoresheet. They regained possession from the restart and won a lineout deep in the opponents half. From the resulting play Callum Earl found himself with the ball in midfield and brushing through a couple of tackles galloped over to give Olney their first try which Ash White converted and a half time score of 21-7

Olney started the 2nd half well with Earl and Allen to the fore. Somehow though Sharnbrook effected a dubious turnover and moved the ball wide. Despite the efforts of Stanbridge who made yet another last ditch tackle the ball was offloaded and the try scored and once again converted. Once again Olney were found wanting from the kick off as Sharnbrook passed the ball from the catch and ran through some poor tackling to once again score immediately from a restart. To be fair to Olney they never gave up. They were struggling with injuries and with players out of position it would have been easy to capitulate at 35-7 down. They came back hard though, sped the ball up through the hands and were held up over the line. From the resulting drop out they once again kept going forward and prop Tom Rance hit a good line to drive over for the score, duly converted by White. From the kick off Olney won a penalty and, kicked for the lineout and after a storming run from Charlie Harris, his centre partner Idiakhoa jinked over to score. The conversion was once again successful and the deficit reduce to just 14 points, 35-21. Olney sensed they were getting on top and continued to attack, but unfortunately went down to 13 players through injury and no more available subs. This gave the advantage back to their opponents who ran the ball from a scrum in their own 22 and outpaced the Olney defence for a try against the run of play, once again converted. Sharnbrook saw the opportunity to finish strongly against the depleted Olney ranks and took the chance with a kick through and score in the corner. Once again the conversion was successful and although Olney kept going and made ground up to the halfway line as the game restarted the final whistle blew with a final score of 49-21 to Sharnbrook.

Once again a scoreline that didn’t do justice to the way that Olney played, for the second week running we went 21 points down before getting onto the scoreboard. It’s hard to win games from that position as a rule. Take into account the lapses of concentration from restarts and that 14 points were scored at the end with Olney down to 13 players and it wasn’t that bad. At times we played some great rugby (with virtually a team of forwards). A little more consistency in performance and availability and this team can definitely have a turnaround in fortunes in the months to come.