U15s battle to league victory over Olney

The U15s welcomed Olney back to Waverley Road looking forward to a competitive League game after a very close home victory in the East Midlands Cup earlier in the season. The conditions were dry with a strong gusting wind and the going underfoot was good to very soft -tailor made for a forward battle between two evenly matched sides.Once again it was great to see the boys who didn't make the matchday squad , or who were carrying injuries, support their team mates from the touch line.

After a brief delay to locate a match ball Kettering kicked off with the wind at their backs. Despite the strong head wind Olney showed they weren't going to be pinned in their half with some excellent driving forward play with ball in hand. Kettering's tackling had to be absolutely on the money as the first few minutes were spent in an arm wrestle as both teams tested each other out with some shuddering challenges in the loose. Robbie was forced to leave the fray with an injury and Ed moved off the bench into the 10 slot.

Kettering's scrum and line out were again proving to be very competitive with Alex making a good job of securing or disrupting the ball in difficult throwing conditions. The scrum was looking solid for Kettering as well and the first score came after a good drive put Olney's defence on the back foot. They tackled well but Kettering kept their attack focused and accurate stretching play left and right when the opposition were tied up with Henri making a good break through the line at speed and rounding the last tackler to score to the right of the posts. The extras were missed in the wind for a 5-0 lead to Kettering.

From the kick off Kettering again showed good tenacity in getting over the ball with Conal and Josh H doing particularly well to turn over possession when Olney threatened. There was almost a second try as Henri broke the defence again and offloaded to Tasker who after several desperate fingertip juggles caused by some last ditch defence was unable to ground the ball.

Olney were still very much in the game and made several smart breaks into Kettering's half mixing up runs with clearing kicks to put the home defence under pressure. There was still time in the half for Kettering to grab their second try, Ed took a quick tap penalty and set up a good kick chase into the Olney 22. Kettering regathered possession and after several drives from the forwards Jamie charged over from short range to make the score 10-0 after the conversion blew wide of the posts. HT KETTERING 10 - OLNEY 0.

With the wind at their backs it was now Olney's chance to put Kettering under territorial pressure, however after Kettering gathered the restart well it was the home team who got off to the best possible start. Cam made a strong break after being put into space and was stopped on the Olney 10m line. The ball was recycled to Chris who crashed it up before being well tackled. The ball came back Kettering's way but strong defensive line speed put Ed under pressure and it looked like he was about to be caught in possession. But with a magician's flourish he pulled off a remarkable between the legs backward pass to find Henri who was straight through the first up tackles with a couple of powerful hand offs. He still had work to do but ran powerfully around the scrambling defence to score under the posts giving Ed an easy conversion. 17-0.

Now Kettering were able to unload their bench and put some fresh legs on against an Olney team who were making a massive effort and still offered a dangerous attacking threat. Despite this Kettering showed some great imagination with a penalty move from the training field after Olney strayed offside. Dom was set up for a charging run but as the defence focused on replling him the ball went elsewhere to Ed who fed Cam on the burst. As the defence retreated the ball was shipped to Henri who stood the last defender up to score to the left of the posts - again without the extras. 22-0.

Many teams might have folded at this point but full credit to Olney who rallied strongly to score a consolation try. After several penalties rolled Kettering back into their own half Olney used their attacking momentum to rock the ball up to the Kettering 5m line. They produced quick ball to go wide around the backtracking defence and score a deserved try which wasn't converted.

The remainder of the game was played between the two 10m lines as both teams were unable to make any more impression on the scoreboard. As the clock turned red It only remained for Chris to imitate Sergio Parisse in duffing his attempted kick to touch to end the game. Fortunately his brother Josh was on hand to finish the ball's journey to touch and bring a curtain down on an excellent win for Kettering.

FULL TIME KETTERING 22- OLNEY 5

A convincing team performance in difficult conditions and against an Olney team who were full of combative running rugby. The win sets up a winner takes all game next Sunday 28th February against Towcester as both teams are undefeated in the League with one game to play. Buckle up your seat belts - Waverley Road will be rocking!!