SENIOR VASE – QUARTER FINAL
SELBY RUFC 52 – 5 TRAFFORD MV RFCC

Selby made only a couple of changes to their selected line-up with Matthew Wood starting and James Blaymire dropping to the bench. Brendan Lanaghan joined the 6 man bench with 12 interchanges allowed in this competition.

In front of a bumper crowd Trafford MV started the game kicking to the railway end, but despite having much of the early pressure, it was Selby who went in front after 6 minutes with the opposition unable to deal with the pace of full back Dan Porter who, with winger Ben Lunt, turned defence into attack, interchanging passes down the line with Porter going over for his 26th try of the season – Josh Cruise failed with the conversion. Porter followed this score with a penalty after 14 minutes when Trafford MV were caught offside. Despite a yellow card for flanker Jacob Robinson for a ‘team offence’, after 22 minutes it was Selby who were gaining the ascendancy with penalty misses by Porter and Cruise in the 24th and 33rd minutes. With Robinson back on, Selby went further ahead after young winger Charlton McCoy made a stunning break offloading to centre Alex Webster who unleashed Porter to sprint over for the try from fully 40 metres after 36 minutes – again no conversion but Selby had a handy lead of 13 points to nil. In added on time Trafford MV prop Dan Sheehan was yellow carded and after Selby gained a further 20 metres for MV backchat to the referee, Cruise kicked the resultant penalty to put Selby in front by 16 points to nil at the break.

Brendan Lanaghan replaced Matthew Wood at the start of the second half and the huge Selby support had only a couple of minutes wait before Selby increased their lead with the forwards taking a scrum against the head on the Trafford 5 metre line – number 8, Martin Protheroe picked up and crashed over for the try – another missed conversion but Selby in front by 21 points to nil. After 49 minutes, with Selby’s scrum now dominating their opponents, Trafford collapsed a scrum on their own line with the referee having no hesitation in awarding Selby a penalty try converted by Porter. At this juncture, Iain Adamson replaced Josh Cruise followed a few minutes later by Mark Tanner replacing Protheroe. Shortly afterwards, in the 56th minute, the match turned ugly with the Trafford MV number 8, Hodgson red carded for repeatedly punching the helpless Selby second row forward Rob Triffitt who could do little to protect himself at the bottom of a ruck. The game was held up for a total of 34 minutes whilst medical help arrived with Triffitt eventually removed from the pitch and taken to hospital. Ben Booth replaced the injured Triffitt and only 2 minutes after the re-start, Trafford MV were down to 13 when one of their players was yellow carded for a technical offence. Selby took the scrum from the resultant penalty with replacement Ben Booth claiming the try from the pushover in the 95th minute – no conversion but Selby were in front now by a comfortable 33 points to nil. Only 2 minutes later, a sparkling break by replacement forward Brendan Lanaghan put centre Alex Webster in for a try with Porter converting. The 100th minute of the match brought a yellow card for Selby’s centre Sam Weller after an over enthusiastic tackle was seen by the referee to be illegal. A minute later Trafford MV scored their consolation try after winning their line-out, driving to the line and then spreading the ball wide for number 10 Patrick Eccles to score – the same player missed the conversion with Selby now 40 points to 5 to the good. However, Selby went further in front after they turned over possession in the Trafford MV 22 with the ball being spread for Iain Adamson to score an excellent try improved by Porter. Sam Weller, who had served his 10 minutes in the bin, was replaced by Alex Arthur after 111 minutes and 3 minutes later Selby completed the scoring when Charlton McCoy went over for a richly deserved unconverted try. Cruise was back on 3 minutes later for Alex Webster, but Selby’s work was done with a deserved 52 points to 5 win and a place in the Semi Final of the Senior Vase. They will now play Stourbridge Lions (away) on Saturday 30 March for a place in the final at Twickenham. Next Saturday, Selby travel to take on the current Yorkshire 2 League leaders, Doncaster Phoenix.

Selby celebrations were muted after the final whistle, with the red card incident leaving a sour taste. Thankfully, Rob Triffitt was discharged from hospital late on Saturday night having suffered concussion, a suspected broken nose and exhibiting many cuts and bruises.