Well here we are again all geared up for another season…. I hope you all have had the most pleasant summer, enjoying the fantastic hot climate, for those old enough reminiscing of the summer of 76.

Well what does season 2018/19 hold for Selby RUFC and what have we been doing in the off season.

Coaching
First of all from a coaching perspective we decided to stick with the tried and trusted, the same team of people who guided the team to Yorkshire one survival with 29 points from the last 13 games. So Assisting me will be Richard Nicholson, Jacob Robinson, Simon Humberstone, Jason Cicero and other coaches at the club from time to time, people like Nick Wright. In Jacob and Simons case they will actually play their rugby at Doncaster Phoenix and Hull respectively but they have a significant input into what we do here.

We started training very early on 26th June 2018 with a view to improving fitness levels and we have continued every week except a one week lay off in late July. We even had a group of lads doing ‘Barff’ Hill runs on Saturday mornings under the guidance of our new captain Charlie Cicero. Balls were out early most of our training has been ball and game related and whilst pre-season is never easy its been pretty enjoyable.

Captains/Managers
I’m delighted we were able to appoint Charlie as captain, he hopefully will bring a great deal of youthfulness to the job as well as his undoubted skills on the pitch. Leaders are all about respect and its obvious already that the lads have the utmost respect for Charlie and indeed his new vice-captain Danny Wilkinson, we wish them both luck in their new roles.

We also have a strong set of captains and managers throughout the club. Duncan Phillips and Mickey Parsonage will manage the second team which will be captained by Paul Randell. Ben Spence will captain the third team ably supported by a management team of Leigh Adamson, Kevin Lamb and Aidan Pierce. I am delighted to say Chris Rawlings returns to manage the 4th team who will be captained for the first time by Chris Young. I wish all our leaders well for the season.

Last week we took a squad to Goole for a pre season game and whilst I was more concerned about our style of play than the actual score I am pleased to say we ran out comfortable winners. Indeed, if we had taken all our chances we would have scored a lot more than the 36 points we amassed.

Players
On the player front we have lost a couple and gained a few… Rob Bourke was getting back into shape nicely has decided to give it a go at Doncaster Phoenix and disappointingly only last week after a full summer of training with us and making himself available for selection Will Edwards has been recruited by Wharefdale. These things happen, I don’t think anyone should stand in the way of player progression but on the other hand there is a way to handle these things properly………..

On the new player front we welcome:
Joe Raddings back to the club, he will be a good acquisition for our front row
Chris Lopez – a strong running centre has joined us, he is actually a Spanish RL International
Charlie Thompson – A quick fiery little hooker has moved to our area after a time in Scotland but started his rugby life at Pocklington
Andy Gorman – An elusive centre joins us after moving to the area from Nottinghamshire

Yorkshire One League
Yorkshire one is very tough it get harder year by year and with 4 ‘Halifax’ based teams involved, the promotion of Pontefract, the relegation of Dinnington I don’t think this year will be any exception. Our level transfer club is Guisbrough in Teeside
Cruisey’s League Prediction – Middlesbrough to win the league, Heath second

So onto today opponents… We had two great battles with Hullensians towards the back end of last season and on both occasions we lost by a small margin of 3 or 4 points. Both games were very close, indeed we were leading by 20 points at one stage in the home fixture only to lose in added time and in the corresponding fixture we were 18 points down after 20 minutes, took the lead with 5 minutes left but yet again just lost but those losing bonus points were good for us. I don’t expect todays encounter to be any different a close encounter against two sides who like to play rugby.

Oh and the ‘Little Purple Book’ is back out………its set a half way target and ill keep you posted on how were do against it…….Lets just hope that ‘my little purple book’ is right again this year and were challenging further up the league than we have been in the last few seasons…..

Yours in rugby

Steve Cruise