Skipton's match report

Sleepy Skipton 'A' punished at Selby
24th Jan 09 - Selby 44 vs 17 Skipton
Report by John Hughes

Selby ‘A’ 44 – 17 Skipton ‘A’

Skipton A team travelled to Selby on Saturday ready to face a tough opponent who had beaten them 6 – 5 at Sandylands earlier in the season.

Selby received the kick off and held possession for the first 5 minutes working up field, Skipton were penalised for hands in a ruck allowing the Selby stand off to convert for the first 3 points of the match. Skipton restarted and once again allowed Selby to pull the strings, breaking the gain line with every move and constantly changing the attacking point, after the first 10 minutes it was looking like it was going to be Selby’s day. However Skipton started to wake up and play their own rugby, creating their own space and defending better. At the 20 minute mark Selby broke the Skipton defence and raced through with a 3 on 1 against the Skipton full back, the scoring chance was begging, the final execution of the move however was a let off for Skipton as the Selby full back knocked the ball forward 10 yards short of the try line. Selby played quick ball from a line out allowing their backs to hit their lines with pace and accuracy, this resulted in another break though and this time they scored, with 25 minutes gone Selby were 10 – 0 ahead. Skipton picked them selves up and fought back, after quick ball Skipton found themselves in space with 2 defenders to beat M Harrison chipped over and good reactions from Skipton saw them win a 5 metre scrum, Skipton played their next 2 phases cleverly and allowed M Davison to storm through 2 attempted tackles and score, with the conversion attempt missing. Both teams tried to break each other down and create more chances but defence from either side was solid; however just as half time was dawning Selby found a weak point and punished Skipton for this with another 7 points, Half time Selby 17 – 5 Skipton.

Skipton knew they hadn’t played the rugby they wanted to and so a strong team speech was needed, with every player putting in comments it was obvious each and every player knew their job had to be improved other wise Selby would punish them.

Skipton returned to the field and received the ball from the kick off, space was seen in the open and the ball was forced wide and panic set in causing the ball to go loose, Selby quickly set and attacked an un-organised Skipton defence giving them the time and space needed to score the first 7 points of the second half. Play was resumed and Skipton once again allowed Selby to run the game, sitting back and allowing Selby to run at them, this again led to a further 5 points. Skipton’s wiser heads needed to pull the team together, with strong encouraging talks behind the posts all 15 men switched on and returned to the field of play. Good play from forwards such as M Murray, M Wilson and J Boynton - to mention a few – saw Skipton attacking the Selby try line, with excellent defence from Selby, Skipton continued to hit the fringes of breakdowns and runners at inside channels sucked the Selby defence tight, this caused open space out wide and quick accurate hands from J Porter, D Howson and D Wilkinson saw J Hughes Score in the corner on the 60 minute mark, this was the way Skipton wanted to play and the way they have played in previous games.

Skipton made changes with L Shaw replacing centre M Harrison who had defended and fed wide ball well all day and S Cox who replaced winger W Huggins who had took his ball carrying chances well making yards each time and defending well when needed. Skipton resumed and play stabilised with both teams playing slow ball and keeping the forwards busy, both back lines followed play back and forth in the midfield as each team turned opponents ball over and caused the errors, Selby were the team to break the dead lock by cleverly deleting the numbers at the breakdowns giving them the overlaps out wide, they broke through the line and scored on the 70 minute mark with the conversion attempt unsuccessful. Selby replied straight after the restart pressuring Skipton into the unusual poor defence they had suffered from all day, a penalty was conceded in front of the posts on the 22 metre line, Selby tapped quickly and ran, with Skipton not 10 the referee awarded another 10 metre’s and strangely allowed Selby to quickly tap and go for a second time, with Skipton players still in front of the second mark the Selby player had 5 metre’s of open space to the try line the score was given and converted. Skipton were bemused but determined not to be humiliated, after the restart Selby worked quickly up field into the Skipton 22 metre, the Skipton forwards of R Hill and M Davison worked tirelessly and turned ball over giving the Skipton backs the chance they had wanted, quick hands and good vision saw L Shaw break his tackles and have the 80 metres of open space he relishes and scoring under the posts allowing D Howson to convert. Once again Skipton did not restart well, with only 2 minutes remaining they were caught out again by the Selby back line who played short passes back in side and scored a final try on the 80 minute mark.

Skipton ‘A’ face Keighley at Sandylands on Saturday and aim to repent against the loss they received at Keighley earlier in the season and prove to each other they deserve their place in the team after a sleepy performance at Selby, with only 2 losses since the beginning of November Skipton intend on putting last weeks loss behind them and getting back to winning ways.