Lincoln Ladies vs Olney Ladies

Olney Ladies made the long trip to high flying Lincoln today with a bare 15, including 2 borrowed players from nearby Sleaford and an Olney debut for Lilly Jeffrey, sister of abrasive centre Sophie Jeffrey who will now hopefully become a long term addition to the Pink Ladies family.

On a very heavy pitch the Olney 15 were always going to be up against it against a home side with a full complement on the bench. A less than impressive warm up didn’t help the feeling that this could be a long afternoon but as soon as the whistle went for the start of the match it was as if a switch had been flicked and Olney were a team possessed. They won the opening skirmishes and created pressure in the opposition 22. Unfortunately a couple of ruck penalties released the pressure and Olney found themselves defending but their aggressive tackling held Lincoln at bay. The play continued in this fashion until midway through the half when after more Olney pressure captain for the day Jen Miles snaked over for a try which she herself duly converted.

Lincoln fought back and camped in the Olney 22 but once again fantastic defence held sway. The Lincoln backs could not get through the Olney midfield of Sophie Jeffrey and Rachel Cozens and with Miles and back row Lianne O’Reilly always on hand to help out Olney defence held firm. Unfortunately as the half drew to a close Lincoln managed to squeeze over after multiple phases and the conversion made the half time score 7-7

The 2nd half started with an early try for the home team as Olney were caught napping after the half time oranges. Was that the signal for the floodgates to open as Olney tired in theLincolnshire mud. Not a bit of it and after sustained Olney pressure Jen Miles kicked a penalty to make the score 12-10. Much of the rest of the half was spent in the Olney half with the occasional foray into enemy territory but defence and exit strategies were superb. It wasn’t until the final play of the game that the home managed to get the ball down over the line for a final score of 17-10 which gave Olney a much deserved bonus point.

The forwards of Howe, Whittaker, Hiscock, Leicester, Beare, Jones , Holt and O’Reilley were magnificent throughout whilst the back line of Pook, Miles, Jeffrey, Cozens, Smeraglia, Jeffrey and Donne, tackled everything and were always willing to run when the opportunity presented itself. Massive thanks to Sinead Kirchin as always for top physio’ing and Chloe Wyatt for top support. Forward of the match went to “Jolly” I’ve never played hooker but I’ll give it a go Whittaker who proved to be a natural and back of the match went to Jen Miles who even by her own standards was another level today. Having said that anyone in the 15 fully deserved to receive the accolades but no complaints from anyone