Pontefract A 19 Selby A 27

Pontefract A 19 Selby A 27

Fielding a relatively young & inexperienced team on a traditionally tough trip to Pontefract, Selby showed a great deal of character to come back from a score of 19-10 to record a notable victory.
With the stylish Ed Clarke holding his eager threequarters under his schoolmasterly authority and studiously directing play, and veteran skipper Duncan Phillips ensuring his forwards kept going forward, this was a superb team effort.
Selby started well with Argentine forward Evaristo Gray making good ground but with the snappy little Fox at scrum half finding the early pace of the game a little too quick before he settled,and the back line strangers to each other possession was not utilised as well as it could have been. Then from Ponte’s first taste of possession an astute kick from the off half found acres of space for the wing to collect & force over the line.
The Selby front row of Tom Bell, Sam Blades & Dave Christison were immense all game & two early strikes against the head showed the way, but the Swans were doubly punished as centre Ollie Saunders spurned an overlap with his winger Jamie Baxter screaming for the ball, and from the subsequent breakdown good hands, strong running and offloading saw the home side increase their lead with a length of the field score.
This spurred Selby and from a strong foray into the Ponte 22, winger Chris Watson was released by a well timed pass from classy full back Tom Ambler, who was showing up well both in attack & defence.
Immediately from the kick off Fox underlined his potential with a superb individual effort, with a strong break & hack on, then stealing the ball from a despairing full back and finally having the power to breach the cover for the try.
The liquorice men were not finished though & stretched their lead with a score following a quick tap, which caught the Selby defence napping, with Ambler converting a penalty award for Selby the final score of the half.

At 19-13 down a good start was rerquired for Selby, and then Ben Aked at No 8 made his presence felt from th off with a strong run off the back of the scrum, which was carried on by Nathan Spence, a definite one to watch, in the centre, and finished in text book style by Clarke with Ambler nudging the extras, to give his side the lead for the first time.
The Selby scrum was now totally dominant and from a powerful drive on the home put in the ball squirted out and Fox spun the ball wide for Ambler to finish & then convert, to take the game totally away from the hosts.
The rest of the half was played almost constantly in the Ponte half with Aked & Spence causing havoc with their strong running, and with a man in the bin the home side were relieved to hear the final whistle.
There is a great deal to work on in this team at the moment with some raw talent which requires nurturing and shaping before being ready for higher things. With encouragement and regular attendance at training a number of these players could be ready for promotion by the end of the season.
Team :
Tom Bell
Sam Blades
Dave Christison
Brendan Lanaghan
Mark Toye
Duncan Phillips ( Sam Cruise )
Jon Crane
Evaristo Gray ( Ben Aked )
Phineas Fox
Ed Clarke
Jamie Baxter ( Andy Banks )
Ollie Saunders
Nathan Spence
Chris Watson
Tom Ambler