BRIDLINGTON RUFC 41 v 0 SELBY RUFC

Report by Ray Adamson

For long periods of the game, played in a destructive gale force wind, Selby's squad of home grown youngsters were a match for their expensively assembled opponents from Bridlington, but in the middle section of the match they found themselves out muscled, out paced and out played as the home side ran in 41 unanswered points at a point per minute to secure a comfortable victory.

Bridlington’s forwards established early superiority and created a kickable opportunity for full back Jack Arthur after 8 minutes but his kick came back off the upright and the game remained scoreless. However it took just another couple of minutes before the home side opened their account when winger Gary Stevens eventually crossed wide out on the right hand side for a try which gave the kicker little real hope of converting in the conditions. The introduction of replacement Tom Bell helped to beef up the Selby forwards but an ankle injury to influential prop Greg Nagle shortly afterwards significantly increased the pressure on the Selby pack.

I t wasn't until the 34th minute that Bridlington were able to stretch their lead when Stevens again caused problems in the Selby defence before the ball was moved away from contact to prop forward Qaqambile Mrwetyana who crossed under the posts to give Arthur an easy conversion and his side a 12 point advantage. This score opened the flood gates somewhat as the home side extended their lead through 2 further tries and a conversion in the remaining 6 minutes of the half to go in with a 24 nil advantage at the break.

Things were to get even more difficult for Selby at the start of the second period as Bridlington hit top gear and scored a further three tries in the space of 12 minutes through scrum half Otis Floyd which fly half Matieu Welsh converted, winger Will Davies and a penalty try awarded against Selby for a scrum offence close to their own posts. Although the conversion was hit successfully it was bizarrely ruled out by the referee because the fly half failed to inform him that he was drop kicking the ball!

With the game already won and lost Selby re-grouped and really took the game to their hosts from then on, lead by skipper Duncan Hardy who repeatedly drove his team forward with ball in hand. Despite getting themselves into good scoring positions on a number of occasions, a lack of composure at crucial times often lead to a loss of concentration and the home side were able to clear their lines courtesy of repeated penalty infringements by the relatively inexperienced Selby forwards. Undaunted, the visitors continued to pile the pressure on the Bridlington defence and a clean break by Hardy through the heart of the Bridlington forwards from a well executed line out move deserved some reward but unfortunately it was not to Selby's day as the home side kept their line intact to record a resounding victory by 41 points to nil.

In an interesting footnote, Bridlington were able to send a second fifteen to Selby for the first time in many years. However the Selby second string ran out comfortable winners by 45 points to 19, a result which might well illustrate the point that investing in large numbers of overseas players to achieve short term gain for an ambitious first team does not necessarily guarantee success or healthy development for players in lower teams within the Club.

Next week sees Selby host a resurgent Yarnbury team in a fixture which could prove to be crucial for both teams in their battle for Yorkshire One survival. There is no doubt that the Selby players will have the backing of a large supportive crowd and will give their all to try to gain an all important pre Christmas victory.