Selby RUFC 12 – 33 Heath RUFC

What a feast of open Rugby this game was. Unfortunately for the Selby faithful most of this came from the visitors who ran in five tries to Selby’s two.

The trouble began up front where Heath rolled the lighter home men off the ball at the set and frequently knocked them off it in the loose. Backing this up with some neat handling and the might of former Rugby League professional Martin Moana in the centre, Heath made it a torrid afternoon for the Swans.

Selby did not go down without a fight. For long periods the tackling was nothing short of heroic, with Heath held up over the line four times, and what little ball came Selby’s way was run in thrilling fashion. Like Macbeth though, the Swans seemed to play “with modest wisdom and over-credulous haste”.

Both Ben Lunt and Mathew O’Connor ran strongly in the Selby backs, Jack Tomlinson showed some fine footballing touches and Skipper Paul “Flash” Randell was named Man of the Match. The recently acquired nickname came from Randell’s oft-quoted desire to become a household name. An earlier version of “Fairy” was discarded on the advice of close friend Andrew Pocklington.

It all began brightly enough for Selby who had Heath on the rack in the opening minutes but then the visiting forwards superiority began to tell and the home line came under siege. One surge was held up over the line, another was cleared desperately from the right corner but then wingman Simon Brown was put through a big gap for the opening score.

Big centre Moana crashed to the Selby posts and at the ensuing five-metre scrum Heath pushed Selby back over the line for number 8 Ian Spence to have an easy touchdown converted by full back Matthew Hallett.

Nothing daunted Selby hit back with a beauty only a minute later. A ruck was won on the Heath 22, O’Connor chipped neatly through and Ollie Saunders followed up at pace for the try. With scores coming thick and fast Moana then timed a short pass to perfection to send Brown in again. The conversion put Heath 19 – 5 ahead at the interval but Selby opened the second period brightly again. Tomlinson broke away from his own 22 drawing the full back to send Randell away. Unfortunately “Flash” proved anything but, being overhauled by 20 stone prop Dougal Moore. Moore continued his good work by rumbling over from short range to finish off an 80-metre move. Hallett converted and was on target again as Spence gained his second push-over try.

It was desperate stuff for the hard-pressed home men but how they fought to have the best of the closing 10 minutes. Reward came as stand-off Jordan Barton slipped through the cover to find Mathew O’Connor who forced his way over near the posts despite the attention of three defenders. Barton converted and the referee mercifully brought proceedings to a close.

Next Saturday Selby entertain local rivals Knottingley (Kick Off 2.15 P.M.) and they need to play much better in a must win match if they are to avoid being dragged into a relegation battle.