30th November 2019 - Olney 3rd XV vs Cranfield

On a distinctly chilly afternoon a number of hardy individuals bravely trotted out in what proved to be a tremendous advert for grass roots rugby. The teams had a full complement of players plus replacements and were made up of fat ones, thin ones, old ones, young ones, fathers and sons and some who appeared to have been drafted in for their first appearance on a rugby pitch but it mattered not. One Cranfield player arrived just after the kick off and changed by the side of the pitch while being given technical instruction by a more than enthusiastic coach whose tactical advice was possibly way in excess of the ability of many of his players. Gonzo, Pablo, Ricardo etc. communicated in foreign tongues but had mastered the art of swearing in English.

Enthusiasm was the order of the day and both sides played with attack in mind even though the execution of the moves didn’t always have the desired outcome. Olney did score first after a good passage of play down the left flank but the conversion was unsuccessful. Gonzo (who had played before) was making some good runs into Olney territory and Cranfield were next to score. The conversion from directly in front hit the post and the scores were level. As the game progressed it was clear the players and referee had a liberal understanding and application of the laws and sometimes it seemed as if tackling was optional but again, it mattered not.

Olney were soon back on the attack and scored wide on the right after some powerful drives by their forwards. Shortly after this, the 67 year old Olney winger had to leave the field injured but soon patched himself up and was back on ready for action. Cranfield were using their runners to good advantage whenever they had possession and scored just before the half time break to take the scores level again at 10-10.
The second half saw much of the same style of rugby with both sides testing each other out with darting runs and quick recycling whenever possible. Cranfield were next on the scoreboard when a clearing kick from their 22 missed touch but fell kindly to their flying winger who ran from his own half to score close to the posts. A certain Lewis Foster was yellow carded for a cynical offence and was told off by his dad, much to the amusement of the few supporters who were braving the elements and Olney’s man mountain, Snowy was doing his very best to prove the fact that not everything gets better with age but again, it mattered not.

Cranfield scored two more tries, one from the backs and one from a quick tapped penalty taking their tally to 27 and Olney added one more of their own to make the final score a respectable 15-27.

What did matter was that yet again Olney have put out a third team, 30 or more men have had a game on a Saturday afternoon and the game was played in the right spirit for teams at this level. As this was the only match playing at home they were the stars of the day and it’s not every week the thirds gets a match report published. There was even a photographer in attendance to record some of the finer pieces of action. Long may it continue.