SENIOR VASE – POOL 2
BLYTH RFC 5 – 64 SELBY RUFC

Referee – Mr. John Ash – Northumberland Society

Selby’s long trip to Blyth in atrocious weather was rewarded with a breathtaking exhibition of running rugby on a pitch that can best be described as heavily waterlogged. Despite the tricky driving conditions supporters had to endure to get there, with large deposits of snow around Durham, Newcastle and beyond, there was hardly a sign of the white stuff on reaching the outskirts of Blyth.

Selby opened the scoring after 9 minutes after a penalty to touch on the Blyth 15 metre line – the line-out was won with the ball spread wide for centre Alex Webster to touch down near the posts – full back Dan Porter converted. After 13 minutes the big Blyth forwards then exerted considerable pressure on the Selby line but conceded a penalty to enable Selby to clear their lines. Four minutes later Blyth spilt the ball from their own scrum on the 10 metre line with Selby number 8 Martin Protheroe picking up and going on an unstoppable burst to score Selby’s 2nd try with Cruise adding the extras. Cruise then missed the only penalty kick at goal in the game after 21 minutes but Selby increased their lead 4 minutes later with a rare try from prop forward Andrew Pocklington with Cruise once again converting. Selby went even further ahead after 27 minutes with Dan Porter receiving from Protheroe before kicking through the Blyth defence and winning the race to the touchdown in the corner – Cruise kicked an excellent conversion from the touchline to give Selby a 28 points to nil advantage. Centre Sam Weller was then unfortunate not to further extend Selby’s lead when he was held up short of the line after a tremendous burst from 20 metres. With half time approaching, the Blyth forwards were applying intense pressure on the Selby try line and despite excellent defending the Blyth hooker, Martin Stephenson eventually crashed over for the try in added on time – scrum half Tony Smithson was unable to add the extra 2 points and Selby went into the break with a very satisfying 28 points to 5 lead.

Selby made the first of their substitutions at the start of the second half with Alex Arthur replacing Sam Weller at centre and it took only 3 minutes of the half before he was involved in Selby’s 5th try after young Charlton McCoy intelligently took a quick throw in and found Porter who sprinted 40 metres before offloading to Arthur who in turn released winger Ben Lunt for the try near the corner – no conversion, but Selby were rampant now with Cruise throwing a trademark dummy before releasing McCoy who was caught just short of the line but he managed to offload to Selby man-of-the-match Josh Greenfield who cantered over for an unconverted try after 47 minutes – Selby then used their second substitute with Mark Tanner replacing Tom Bell at prop. Dan Porter scored his second try of the match only 2 minutes later with Cruise converting and putting Selby in front by 45 points 5. Another 20 minutes elapsed before there was any further score, during which time Selby replaced Alex Webster with Iain Adamson and Martin Protheroe with Ben Booth. After more Blyth pressure it was Selby who went further in front in the 68th minute after stealing a Blyth line-out and spreading the ball wide for Porter to score his hat-trick of tries, and his 24th of the season. Two minutes later winger Ben Lunt scored his second try after good work from Porter, Pocklington and Greenfield with Cruise kicking the conversion. Substitute centre Iain Adamson wrapped things up after 74 minutes after a superb break from skipper Duncan Hardy who offloaded to Arthur with Adamson taking the final pass and sprinting over the try line – Cruise converted to give Selby an impressive 64 points to 5 victory and a place in the quarter finals of the Senior Vase – in all probability, Selby will now have a home tie on 16 March against Trafford M.V.

Despite the perceived gulf in class between the Northumberland & Durham Leagues and the Yorkshire Leagues, nothing should be taken away from the fact that this was a stunning performance by Selby with all 19 players showing excellent speed & support to each other and exhibiting wonderful ball handling skills against a Blyth side who never gave up.

Selby are back to League action next Saturday with a trip to West Park Leeds (Kick Off 1500 hours). With Yarnbury scraping a win at Hullensians Selby drop to 3rd place in Yorkshire 2 but have 2 home games in hand and with 2nd placed Yarnbury due to visit Sandhill Lane on Saturday 9 March.