North Yorkshire Trophy Semi Final - Ripon 14 vs Selby 3rds 31

The cup semi-final couldn’t have got off to a better start as Ripon’s attempted clearance from the kick-off was charged down, the alert Mick Parsonage securing the loose ball and releasing John Taylor to crash over. The straightforward conversion was dispatched by Ted Townend. Seven points on the board and the game barely a minute old.

Ripon were stung into life and came back hard taking the game to Selby with their belligerent forwards and pacey backs encamped in Swans territory. Selby’s defence was breached on 12 minutes as Ripon’s probing opened a gap and plundered a full return of points to level the scores

Ripon continued to make unwanted advances but were caught on the break as Ben Spence & Jason Goodwin broke out from the edge of Selby’s 22, combining well to put Spence over.

Thus the first seeds of doubt were sown in the Ripon psyche and they hurriedly adjusted to cover further examinations by Spence, Goodwin and Simon Lee. Ben Rawson was put through to dot down with Townend tidying up to turn around 19-7 up.

Ripon came back refreshed after the re-start and took the game to Selby. The next 20 minutes saw wave after wave of Ripon attacks. The home side looked to have broken through but were thwarted by an excellent covering tackle from John Taylor.

Selby had just refreshed the line for the last quarter when Ripon managed to drive over from the base of a 5 metre scrum. The conversion brought them within 5 points of Selby however that was as close as they got

Goodwin stole down the blindside to score after a scrum out wide on Ripon’s 22, Dan White taking on conversion duties pushed the conversion attempt wide.

Selby’s knocking on the Ripon door became a deafening hammering before the rejuvenated White burst through and converted his own score to put the result beyond doubt.

Massive shifts were put in throughout the Selby line however one player was head and shoulders above the rest, Andy Case put his body on the line time and again to send RIpon packing.

With the second semi still to be played Selby don’t know who their opponents will be in the final. Apparently the trophy currently resides in the Ripon trophy cabinet, best they give it a polish up before it comes to its new home.