It’s always nice to welcome some familiar faces to East Street and this week it was the turn of Old Scouts who we have had some tight matches against in recent years. Today looked as if it would be much the same with both sides sitting towards the top of the table. In the local news we saw that someone from the town has listed all his dogging gear on eBay. There have been no bids yet but several people are watching.

Olney knew that Scouts would be prepared so would have to match this even with a few enforced changes in the starting line-up. After 5 minutes Scouts had the first points on the board when a rehearsed move in the backs gave them the overlap and a try for their winger to touch down wide on the left. Shortly after, Olney set up camp in the Scouts 22 and after more than enough penalties it was time to reduce them to 14 with a yellow card. The attacks continued but Olney came away with just 3 points following a Jacob DeMain penalty. More or less straight from the kick off, Olney had a break along the left touchline and Dave Simpson found Arthur Betteridge who had enough pace to beat the defence for the try. Scouts were always going to come back though, and a strong scrum close to the Olney line gave the Number 8 the opportunity to pick up from the base and drive over to level the scores. Scouts took the lead as half time approached when a clearance kick didn’t go according to plan and the return kick from the winger (Noah) found space behind the defence and he outpaced everyone to the ball for a fine individual try. This took the score at half time 10-17 in Scouts favour. Steve says put it off the park!

The second half continued in much the same fashion with both sides looking to run the ball and provide an entertaining spectacle for the assembled masses. Hector Stanbridge got his name on the scoresheet after a quick tapped penalty by Ethan Chambers caught the defence on the back foot and Stanners was on hand to barge his considerable bulk over the line taking four defenders with him. With the scores level again, either side looked capable of scoring but the loss of Charles Rylands for 10 minutes gave Scouts a bit of an advantage. They took their chance well when a kick to touch stayed in field and they attacked at pace along the right wing resulting in a try eventually under the posts for the lead and a bonus point.
Some quick ball from rucks and good hard running from the forwards gave Scouts another opportunity which they took well, again at pace down the right for another try and excellent conversion for a 14 point lead at 17-31. With Rylands back on the pitch and Olney back up to full strength they were able to match the Scouts at the breakdown and slow the quick ball from the rucks. However, Scouts were still intent on continuing to entertain and one attack looked dangerous until Max Day had other ideas when he intercepted a pass to sprint from half way to score under the posts for Olney’s bonus point for the afternoon. Still things looked undecided but the game was drawing to a close and Scouts had the upper hand in terms of the score when Olney gathered a clearance kick and set off with purpose. The backs found gaps and Betteridge found the final one to score wide on the left. This left DeMain with what would be the final play of the game. The difficult conversion found the target and the whistle blew leaving the final score at 31-31.

A thoroughly entertaining game from a neutral observer’s point of view and both sets of players and coaches will welcome the 3 league points rather than none. However, there were opportunities for the full 5 points, so they may be slightly frustrated by that. If both sides continue to play like this though, they will surely be staying towards the top end of the table as the season progresses.

In other news, apparently Mr Harris had a leaflet posted through his door advising him that he could enjoy sex at 65. This came as a pleasant surprise as he lives at 33 so not too far to go and he doesn’t even have to cross the road.

Photos here