It would be fair to say that Selby RUFC 1st XV haven’t had the best of seasons thus far, but recent weeks have seen a consistency in team selection, with players playing in their preferred positions and a massive improvement in team performance. The regulars down at Sandhill Lane have been whispering amongst themselves for weeks now, that very soon someone is going to pay. So with a break in the Yorkshire 1 league campaign for this Yorkshire Shield game, Selby went to Malton and Norton, who currently sit just below them at the bottom of the league, with a skip in their step and the idea of enjoying themselves. And so it proved.

On a blustery day, Selby kicked off the game, and it wasn’t long before they showed their intentions. Stand-in fly-half, Shaun Austerfield began, what turned out to be an exemplary exhibition of elegant controlled kicking, matched only by the courage and commitment of his fellow teammates. With only 3 minutes on the clock, and spotting the winger rushing up in defence, Austerfield ‘chipped’ an inch perfect ball over the top for flying winger Alex Arthur to pounce on, and start the scoreboard ticking. The next 10 minutes saw a succession of attacks from Selby, which Malton struggled to contain, and lead to 3 consecutive successful penalty kicks at goal from the ever reliable Adam Walton, who today took over kicking duties. The Swans were now turning the screw, smashing Malton in defence, turning over ball in contact and totally dominating the set piece scrum. The next Selby try was straight off the training ground, and an example of how much hard-work the squad have been putting in during training. From an attacking scrum, the packed surged forward, allowing an elaborate backs move. Good decoy and lines of running led to Alex Arthur going under the posts, unopposed for his second try, this time converted. The front-five of Selby were now starving Malton of any possession and overpowering every restart. On this occasion from the Malton 22yard line Selby broke with ball in hand, ‘quick-hands’ through the backs to Ben Lunt, who was tackled just short of the line. First man to the breakdown, and not for the first time, was No.8 Ben Aked, who created fast second phase ball and the forwards drove back towards the posts, and Prop, Andrew Pocklington ‘crashed’ over the line for another converted try. Selby still weren’t finished. This time it was Lock, Jack Tomlinson, running down the right centre channel at the Malton backs, tackled, he presented the ball well and Russ Dovey attacked the blind-side with a great break from Ben Lunt and a perfect inside ball for Austerfield to sprint 30 yards to score in the corner. Walton missed the conversion, but added a further penalty to finish the first half, Malton 0, Selby 36.

With such a dominant first half performance the Selby coach took the opportunity to rest some key players and gave all his bench players a run out. Malton showed a spirited second-half performance, the highlight being two tries from Fullback Ian Cooke. The crowd also saw Selby’s Alex Arthur completing his hat-trick of tries and Adam Walton take his personal tally to 21 points with a further conversion and penalty. Selby played the closing stages of the game with 14 men when flanker Jonathan Crane was rested after taking a knock, and Selby having already used all their replacements. The final points were a converted try scored by Malton’s flanker Sam Triffitt which was converted by Tom Collard and resulted in the final score of Malton and Norton 17, Selby 46.

You could put a case together for any one of the Selby players being Man-of-the-Match this week, but an outstanding performance from Prop, Andrew Pocklington, sponsored by Carlton Marine Consultancy, secured him the honour.
Next week Selby travel again to Malton and Norton, hoping for a similar performance in the league.

SELBY LINE-UP:

15. Walton A
14. Lunt B
13. Spencer N
12. Bennett A (Captain)
11. Arthur A
10. Austerfield S
9. Dovey R
1. Pocklington A
2. Randell P
3. Gabel P
4. Toye M
5. Tomlinson J
6. Nicholson J
7. Crane J
8. Aked B

Substitutes
Blaymire J (For Randell P – 40 Minutes)
Lanaghan B (For Aked B – 44 Minutes)
Firth N (For Arthur A – 64 Minutes)