YORKSHIRE SHIELD – SECOND ROUND
SELBY RUFC 46 – 26 KEIGHLEY RUFC

Referee – Mr. Dave Lindsay – South Yorkshire Society

After suffering 3 consecutive League defeats, Selby returned to Yorkshire Shield action on Saturday, taking on fellow Yorkshire 1 team Keighley in the second Round of the competition. With both teams still suffering from injuries and unavailability, it was Selby who progressed to the Quarter Final by 46 points to 26 against a spirited and determined Keighley side who refused to ‘lie down’ despite being without a handful of 1st XV regulars. Selby took a 20 points to 13 lead into the break after a competitive first half and by the end of the third quarter had pulled away to lead by 39 points to 16 but never say die Keighley competed to the end scoring a further 2 tries, both from their excellent scrum half Tom Rock.

Selby were without prop Andrew Pocklington but number 8 Martin Protheroe returned after injury. That experienced veteran, Duncan Phillips, started his first game for the 1st XV this season at flanker with Matthew Wood ‘rested’ on the bench alongside Ben Lunt, returning from injury, and front row replacements Ben Booth and Mark Tanner.

Selby started well with young hooker Sam Cruise nearly in for a try in the early minutes – this pressure resulted in Keighley being penalised for not rolling away with fly half Josh Cruise converting the penalty after 3 minutes. This lead was short-lived with a clever kick over a static Selby defence by Keighley after 10 minutes resulting in a try for winger Adam Carter – fly half Alex Brown converted to put Keighley in front by 7 points to 3. Two minutes later, skipper Duncan Hardy limped off the field and was replaced by Mark Tanner. Selby were back in front after 17 minutes with a try from centre Teihana Brown after winger Charlton McCoy had put the Keighley defence under pressure – Cruise converted to give Selby a 10 points to 7 advantage. Teihana Brown’s second try of the match, this time unconverted, came 10 minutes later after being set up by a determined run by winger Alex Arthur. A poor pass 2 minutes later prevented Selby from scoring a further try but after 32 minutes Selby were further in front after full back Dan Porter made an excellent break before releasing Brown who put Martin Protheroe over for the try – another missed conversion but Selby now had a handy 20 points to 7 lead. Keighley came straight back at Selby, their pressure forcing Selby to concede penalties, 2 of which were converted by Alex Brown with the half ending at 20 points to 13 in Selby’s favour, but only a score in front of a determined Keighley side.

It was all Selby at the start of the second half, pressurising the Keighley defence into conceding penalties with Selby spurning the opportunity to kick for goal in favour quick ‘tap penalties’ but still only a score in front!? However this strategy finally paid off after Selby took a scrum against the head with Porter going over for an unconverted try after 46 minutes. Ben Lunt replaced Sam Weller after 50 minutes – a couple of minutes later Keighley reduced their arrears with another Alex Brown penalty – from the Selby re-start, Keighley dropped the ball and from the resultant Selby scrum put-in, winger Alex Arthur expertly battered his way over the line under the posts to give Cruise an easy conversion and Selby a 32 points to 16 advantage. This was the last action of the afternoon for Josh Cruise with replacement Ben Booth joining the scrum at number 8, Protheroe reverting to centre and Teihana Brown taking over at fly half. Selby went further in front after 60 minutes after Booth turned over possession for Selby – the ball was kept ‘alive’ and after some brilliant handling the move was finished off by an excellent Charlton McCoy try – Teihana Brown drop-kicked the conversion to give Selby an unassailable 39 points to 16 lead. Keighley were not finished however, turning possession over after Selby tried to run the ball out of defence on 68 minutes – the resultant pressure ended with an unconverted try in the corner for scrum half Tom Rock. Five minutes later Selby could well have gone further in front but a poor pass to replacement winger Lunt sailed into touch. A minute later Selby did extend their lead with Teihana Brown going over for his hat-trick of tries – another drop-kick conversion put Selby in front by 46 points to 21. Further Keighley forward pressure after 78 minutes put Tom Rock over in the corner for his second try of the match – with no conversion the final score finished at 46 points to 26 to Selby who now progress to the quarter final of the competition where they will meet York at Clifton Park on 1 February 2014.

Despite the score-line this was an untidy performance by Selby, who occasionally played some outstanding rugby, but at other times were guilty of poor decision making and sloppy passing and handling – Selby certainly need to tighten up defensively but then their many supporters, after all the successes of last season, perhaps expect too much?

Next Saturday Selby re-commence their League programme with a trip to basement side Acklam and will hope to get back on the winning trail prior to the visit of Bridlington to Sandhill Lane on Saturday 30 November.