Olney Ladies vs Peterborough LAdies

The #PinkLadies took centre stage at the club on Saturday afternoon in what proved to be a tough but entertaining game on Doff’s.

A little off the pace initially in the first half, it was clear that the Olney girls would have to dig deep against the 2nd place Peterborough who’d brought a full complement to Olney. The away side highlighted their pace outside early on as they stretched the Olney defence and ran in a couple of tries out wide to open the scoring for the day.

Olney started to get into the groove and put the away side under some intense pressure with some huge first up tackles led by the forward of the match, Georgia Marie.

A pick and go at the scrum inside the Olney half, followed by some beautifully interlinked phase play between the backs and forwards saw Olney score what was arguably the ‘try of the day’ as back of the match Sophie Jeffery put in a perfectly timed pass for storming fullback Scarlet Donne to dot down in the corner.

Peterborough led the way at half-time but the Olney girls were most definitely still in it and refusing to roll over!

The 2nd half followed a similar pattern to the first half with the Pink Ladies enjoying good territory and possession and forcing the visitors to defend for long periods. Peterborough were excellent on the break however and were quickly able to turn defence into attack when the ball was turned over. Despite some now common place last ditch tackling from fullback, Donne and some big midfield hits from Lianne Marie Manley-OReilly and Rebekah Mallard the visitors were able to run in tries at regular intervals with some enterprising back play and speedy handling.

Despite the loss of line out expert Naomi Leicester mid way through the half, Olney regrouped and continued to take the play to their opponents. Some great carrying from prop Natasha Howe, coupled with some lovely continuity play between the 2 Jens, (Micklewright and Miles) and O’Reilly (or is it Manley?) kept Olney pushing forward and with the scrum now dominating, Olney finished the game strongly.

Unfortunately the scores that their efforts deserved didn’t come, but once again the Pink Ladies showed great grit and determination and with no chance to bring on fresh legs during the game they were still able to finish strongly.

Peterborough were deserving winners due to their clinical finishing but Olney can once again feel rightly proud of their efforts in what has been a far from easy season

Picture gallery - https://www.olneyrfc.co.uk/photos/20240309--olney-ladies-vs-peterborough-1095671.html