Nail Biting 1st round win in Papa Johns Cup

This weekend saw Selby leave their successful league campaign behind and turn their focus to the Papa John’s Cup competition focusing on the visit from tough opponents, Old Brodleians.

With the competition allowing larger squads and rolling subs it was an ideal platform to give a first opportunity to one of Selby’s current colts and including a handful of last season’s colts to the bench.

In blustery, but dry conditions Selby kicked off into the wind and quickly established their usual patterns of quick ball, forward bursts, and slick handling throughout the backline. Whilst holding onto possession for the first 5 minutes Selby were struggling to penetrate a strong Old Brods defence and eventually a mistake let the visitors off the hook and with a scrum infringement Selby soon saw themselves on their 22 line facing an Old Brods lineout .The visitors were getting into the swing of things and some good interplay between forwards and backs saw them march to Selby’s 5m line, before a great “jackal” by skipper Webster spoilt the attack and Selby managed to clear their lines.

Selby gained possession from the lineout and again began to go through the phases mixing forward bursts with slick hands, but again Brod’s defence was up to the job and they managed to keep Selby in check. The quality of the visitors’ defence began to frustrate Selby who began to take risks and an interception by the Brods outside centre on half way saw them trudge back under their own sticks to find themselves 7 nil down with 10 mins gone.

Selby restarted with a kick that held up well, but Brods cleared their lines using the strong wind. The kick didn’t make touch and was gathered by Ben Poskitt, deputising at Fly Half for Henry Wright. He launched a huge bomb that he chased and managed to regather giving Selby possession on Brods 22metre line. Selby again mixed things up well as they slowly edged closer to the Brods line. The pressure was telling and 2 penalties for ruck offences by the visitors saw Selby with a Scrum 10 metres out from the line centre field. Quick possession saw the ball move right, with Bennett looping round to create the extra man. The final pass was knocked on by the Old Brods. Winger and the referee deemed the knock on to be deliberate showing a yellow card and awarding a penalty try to make the score 7-7 after 15 mins.

Things began to open up after the restart. A long kick was gathered by Selby and after a couple of drives up the middle the ball was sent wide left, Bramley found a gap and raced down the touch line only to be cut short 5m from the line. Quick ball and a drive by Ibbetson saw him crash over for Selby’s second try. Although Bramley missed the difficult conversion, Selby had opened up a 12-7 lead after 17 minutes.

It took Old Brods less than 30 second to equalise after a great catch at the kick off allowed them to regain possession. Quick ball to the right saw their flying wing Wroot spot a gap and race through unopposed, the conversion making the score 12 – 14 in favour of Old Brods after22 minutes

With the restart going out on the full a scrum centre field saw Old Brods launch a kick downfield. Selby managed to keep the ball in field and a clever kick into the wind saw them head for a lineout on the visitors 22metre line. With a knock on at the line Selby regained possession and started to go through the phases. A clever switch of direction in midfield saw them break through the Old Brods defence with Skipper Webster shooting over the line for a fine score. Bramley was able to add the conversion as Selby re-established the lead at 19 -14 after 28 minutes

Old Brods soon added a further 3 points to their tally after a Selby infringement at a ruck reduced the Selby advantage to 19-17.

The home side managed to regain possession from the kick off and after winning a scrum they sent the ball quickly down the back line to see young debutant Scholefield use his pace and strength to slide through a gap to score wide out on the right, making the score 24 – 17 in Selby’s favour.

Another penalty kick by Brods saw the score at Half Time 24 -20 to Selby, leaving everything to play for after the break

Old Brods kicked off into the wind and another great catch by their big number 8 gave them possession on Selby’s 22. They gradually edged their way closer to the Selby line only for a handling error to allow Selby to clear their lines. Holding on the ball suddenly became harder for the next 5 minutes with both sides coughing up ball at key stages of the game.

It was Selby who broke the deadlock with another burst by Scholefield nearly leading to his 2nd try but he was held up short, however quick ball from the ruck saw Ash Parkinson bundle over to stretch the Selby lead to 29 -20.

Old Brods then started to exert real pressure and when a rolling maul was collapsed by Selby close to their try line after 5 minutes of pressure from the visitors, the ref had no hesitation to award a penalty try and give Jamie Dentith 10 minutes in the sin bin, reducing Selby’s lead to just 2 points at 29 -27 as the game entered the final quarter.

A mistake from the kick off saw Selby pounce on the loose ball and quick thinking by Scholefield saw him control his kick over the try line and with his pace, won the foot race to dive on the ball to score his 2nd try of the game. The unsuccessful conversion gave Selby a 7 point advantage at 34 -27.

Selby went straight back onto the attack from the kick-off and camped in the visitors 22m for the next 5 minutes. After a series of drives by individual forwards and a strong ,driving maul Webster spotted a gap at one of the rucks and raced through untouched under the sticks, giving Bramley a straightforward conversion and Selby a commanding lead at 41 -27. If Selby’s faithful had thoughts that the game was over as a contest, the visitors had completely different ideas.

With Selby still down to 14 men Old Brods started to pile on the pressure and the young visitors started to retain possession well. After a series of rolling mauls they finally broke Selby’s defence to score an unconverted try making it 41 – 32 in Selby’s favour.

Old Brods were certainly finishing the game strongly and more possession saw them score again, wide out on the right hand side to make the score 41 -37 with 6 nerve-wracking minutes to go.

Selby kicked off and tried o keep the visitors pinned in their half, but this young Old Brods side had other ideas, breaking through the Selby defence to race up the pitch. Things were tight and it needed good, solid defence by Selby to keep Old Brods out. After another clearance kick by Selby and more attacks by Old Brods, Parkinson managed to execute another perfect “Jackal” in front of the stand to steal possession. The ball was swiftly dispatched to touch and the ref blew for full time.

This was a barn storming cup game with both teams giving 100% effort throughout. Selby edged the result, but credit goes to the young Brods side who never gave up and could have stolen the game at the end, had it not been for the resolve of the Selby defence

A trip to Percy Park in North Shields awaits the Swans next Saturday as they go in search of a League and Cup double with a trip to Twickenham the ultimate prize should the manage another 3 game unbeaten run.