Yorkshire Shield First Round

Selby RUFC 51 - 5 Hullensians RUFC

On a perfect afternoon for Selby's free-running style of Rugby, the home team put on a great performance for the large and loyal crowd at Sandhill Lane. Expecting a stern test from a team promoted to Yorkshire 1 last season, Selby, under the leadership of Fly Half Dan Porter, soon stamped their authority on the game and ran away with it in the second half as Hullensians, depleted by the sending off of Flanker Scott Fletcher for foul play after just 25 minutes, struggled to contain Selby's pace and vision.

The game was only 8 minutes old when Skipper Dan Porter got his name on the score-sheet with the first of his 4 tries. Following up his own clever kick through, Porter was able to catch the visiting Full Back in possession close to his own line and having stripped the ball from him strolled in for an easy score which went unconverted.

Ten minutes later Selby were able to double their advantage when the impressive Charlton McCoy touched down following smart work by Full Back Ben Lunt and Dan Porter. On 25 minutes the task became a great deal harder for Hullensians following the dismissal of Fletcher and within six minutes of the sending off Selby made the visitors pay with Porter spotting the smallest of gaps and accelerating through to score his second try and give debutant Centre Peter Turner the easiest of conversions.

Although there were no further scores before half time, Selby soon got back on the scoreboard following the resumption. Great work by Second Row Forward Brendan Lanaghan set up the position from which Porter was able to complete his hat trick and extend Selby's advantage to 22 points. Ben Lunt was next to join the try-fest after 48 minutes when Hooker Duncan Hardy forced a 5 metre scrum and from the resulting put-in the ball was moved wide quickly to create the space for Lunt to gallop over.

Hullensians were rewarded for their afternoon's efforts after 52 minutes when substitute forward Neil O'Donnell was mauled over the Selby line following a text-book line-out around the Selby 10 metre line. The conversion from wide out was missed by Tom Biglin, but Selby seemed to be spurred on by conceding the score as they racked up a further 4 tries in the last 25 minutes. The first of these was an immediate riposte from the Hullensians' score with Charlton McCoy being put in for his second try of the afternoon courtesy of a sublime piece of incisive running by Full Back Lunt.

After 67 minutes debutant winger Jack Guest and Centre Alex Webster combined to set up Dan Porter for his fourth try of the afternoon and as the game moved into the last 10 minutes both providers became scorers themselves. Alex Webster was first to get his name on the score-sheet when a kick deep into the Selby 22 was fielded by Iain Adamson whose vision and pace tore a hole in the visitors' defence before Webster finished off in style. The final nail in the Hullensians coffin was deservedly delivered just 4 minutes from time by Jack Guest who benefited from a powerful surge from young Prop Rob Bourke. Dan Porter was able to add a couple of conversions to his 4 try haul for a personal tally of 24 points, ensuring that Selby crossed the fifty point mark into the bargain.

Although Selby will no doubt face tougher tests once the league season gets under way and will need to improve the ratio of successful kicks at goal, there was much to enjoy and admire about the commitment, skill and fitness of a relatively inexperienced Selby squad in their first competitive match of the new season.