After Selby’s hard fought victory at a rain drenched Morley and a week off league rugby there was an air of excited anticipation amongst the Sandhill Lane faithful for the visit of Old Crossleyans, who have had a slow start to their season.

Selby kicked off with a stiff breeze blowing across the pitch and both sides set about testing each other’s defence as they managed to keep possession and put some phases together. It soon became clear that this would be a tougher assignment for the home side than many would have first thought.

Old Crossleyans had the better of the opening exchanges and poor discipline by the Selby forwards meant that they were forced to defend their own line. They managed to withhold a number of Old Crossleyans efforts, but after another infringement for a high tackle Selby went behind when A. Brook slotted a simple penalty in front of the posts for the visitors on the 15 minutes mark.

This early set back seemed to galvanise the home side and after a deep kick off by Wright and a sliced clearance kick by Old Crossleyans Selby found themselves with ball in hand and some space to work in. Slick hands in the backs enabled Archie Bennett to scamper over in the left hand corner on the 17 minute mark. Although the difficult conversion was missed by Wright, Selby had a lead which they were able to hold onto for the rest of the contest.

The Score didn’t seem to panic the visitors and they continued to show good attacking flare, holding on to the ball for long periods and almost breaking through Selby’s defence on more than one occasion. For the next 10 minutes the game flowed back and forth with both sides showing good attacking intent but ultimately both defences were holding firm. In the 23rd minute Selby won a penalty which they elected to kick to the corner. After winning the line out a series of forward drives punched holes in the Old Crocs defence. Moving the ball left to right and back again Selby were edging ever closer to the visitors’ line. Quick ball from a ruck and more slick handling put Ibbetson through a gap and he galloped over the line to make the score 10 – 3 to Selby with 27 minutes played. Wright’s successful conversion stretched the home side’s advantage to 12 -3.

Selby’s tails were up and with Old Crossleyans still wanting to play the ball out of their half rather than clearing their lines, Selby were able to force an error and from the resulting scrum great handling from Selby’s back line released young Matty Lodge who hobbled over from 30 yards out having clearly pulled his groin in the attack. Wright’s second successful conversion saw the Selby lead stretched to 19-3 as James Bramley replaced the unfortunate Lodge in the centres

For the remaining minutes of the half it was Selby’s turn to soak up the pressure as they were forced to defend their line with the visitors throwing everything they had at Selby’s youngsters who showed how solid their defence could be as they managed to keep the visitors out until the referee brought the half to a close having played 4 minutes of added on time.

Old Crossleyans kicked off the second half with the wind dropping and Selby were soon awarded a scrum on the halfway line due to a lineout throw that was adjudged not straight. Selby seemed to suddenly up their pace, and some excellent inter play between forwards and backs which saw Broughton bounce through a gap in the visitors defence before handing on to Ibbetson who raced over for his second try of the game following 6 phases of play. Wright converted and at 26 points to 3 Selby were looking comfortable, having again claimed a 4-try bonus point.

Some adjustment to Selby’s back line was needed shortly afterwards as Captain Alex Webster limped from the field with Ibbetson moving from the back row into the Centre. Any thoughts of Selby marching on to increase their lead were quickly dispelled as the visitors raised their game and from the kick-off launched a sustained attack. Great off loading within their pack and hard straight running enabled them to camp on Selby’s line. A series of infringements kept the pressure on Selby and eventually the pressure told as Old Crossleyans dived over for a well deserved try. Converted by A Brook. With 50 minutes played the visitors were back in the game at 26 points to 10.

Selby then proceeded to put themselves under more pressure with missed kicks to touch, unusually poor defence and ill discipline around the ruck allowing Old Crossleyans to gain in confidence and start to play some clever possession-led rugby. Smart off loading among their large forwards saw them edge closer and closer to Selby’s line and on 63 minutes they crashed over to reduce the Selby lead to 26 – 17 after A.Brook again slotted the conversion.

At this point Ibbetson was taken off, making way for another Selby youngster, Jack Todd to make his first fifteen debut

The visitors now had the momentum and were controlling the game. They decided to try to run the ball out for their half and almost broke through until a slight knock on released the pressure on Selby. From the resulting Scrum, good handling from Selby’s ¾ put Full Back Ben Poskitt through a gap, desperate last ditch tackling from the visitors managing to prevent him from crossing the line. A quick feed to Josh Greenfield on the left saw him drive for the line only to be held up as tempers flared between the 2 packs of Forwards.

After events had calmed down the referee issued 2 yellow cards to second row forwards on both teams. Selby were awarded a Scrum on the Crossleyans line and taking advantage of their superiority in the set piece, Josh Greenfield, who was now operating at Number 8, picked up from the base to drive over the line wide out on the left hand side. With 65 minutes gone the home side’s lead was now at 14 points as they led by 31 points to 17.

Momentum and control which had been held by the visitors now switched in favour of the home side, and from the kick-off Selby used possession and position wisely to keep Old Crossleyans pinned in their 22. As they had done all afternoon the visitors continued to play the ball out of their half and showed great spirit and determination in putting together multiple phases. As tiredness crept in, mistakes began to occur and a dropped ball in mid field by Old Crossleyans allowed a quick turnover to Selby, who launched an attack down the left flank. Tired defence by the visitors backline and determined running by the Selby players created the space for winger Reuben Callau to break through and score Selby’s 6th try of the game. The conversion from wide out was again unsuccessful but with just 6 minutes remaining Selby help a commanding 19 point lead.

The last few minutes saw Selby largely in control as they used the ball wisely to take play down into the visitors’ territory. Old Crossleyans however refused to give up and their ability to go through the phases and keep possession nearly paid off as they steadily crept up the pitch towards Selby’s line. Calling on all their reserves of energy, Selby somehow managed to keep the visitors at bay until the referee blew the final whistle.

Overall the Selby faithful were treated to another entertaining game with the visiting side a lot more capable than their league position suggests. There were times when they caused real anxiety in the Selby camp, but Selby’s youngsters were also able to produce some moments of magic themselves, scoring some excellent tries despite occasional lapses in discipline.