North Ribblesdale RUFC 14 v 7 Selby RUFC

Report by Ray Adamson

On a bitter afternoon and in difficult heavy conditions, Selby put in a performance that should have seen them improve their current League record. However a mixture of heroic defence by the Ribblesdale side and numerous handling errors amongst the Selby players mean that Selby returned from Settle with just a losing bonus point. If the cloud had a silver lining it was that the solitary point was sufficient to move them up a place in the League and above Old Crossleyans who had visited Selby just the week before.

Ribblesdale had the better of the play in the opening 15 minutes but thereafter Selby's forwards, including the evergreen Jason Cicero and Matthew Wood playing only his second game of the season, gained the upper hand and provided enough possession and territory to have won the game comfortably. Things looked ominous after just 4 minutes when the home side's skipper Jonny Moore made a clean break through the centre of the Selby defence to cross just to the left of the posts and fly half Steven Moon added the extras to give his team an early advantage. Within 6 minutes Ribblesdale doubled their lead when a penalty kick to the corner gave them the throw at an attacking line-out and a well constructed catch and drive provided the score for Andrew Thwaite. A well judged conversion meant hat Selby were already looking down the barrel and had hardly managed to get any sort of foothold in the game.

From that point on the Selby forwards began to get their collective act together and a number of promising phases of play were only interrupted by handling errors which too often handed the initiative back to the home side. After 22 minutes Selby finally gained reward for their efforts by scoring a try similar to Ribblesdale's second one. A penalty kicked to the corner by fly half Scott Hunt set up the line out and a tremendous surge from the clean catch saw Duncan Hardy add to his try tally for the season. An excellent conversion against the strong wind by Hunt reduced the deficit to just one converted try. Although the Selby forwards then had the better of exchanges there were no further clear cut scoring opportunities for either side until well into injury time at the end of the half when a penalty awarded to Ribblesdale for offside gave Moon the chance to kick at goal. His effort dropped under the bar and Hunt was able to kick the ball dead to bring the half to a close.

With the wind in their favour it was expected that Selby would have the better of the second half territorially and so it proved, with Ribblesdale only occasionally forcing their way into the Selby half and rarely venturing into the Selby 22. Despite their clear advantage, Selby were unable to capitalise and a combination of handling errors and heroic defence served to frustrate players and spectators alike. The visitors spent the majority of the final ten minutes of the game camped in the Ribblesdale 22 and Alex Hare, making his return to Selby after a spell away travelling, almost got the crucial score but was hauled down just feet from the line as the final whistle approached. A series of drives at the Ribblesdale line were repelled but eventually lead to fly half Moon being yellow carded for illegally stopping a rolling maul and yet Selby were still unable to force any cracks in the home side's desperate defence. The final throw of the dice again saw Selby driving towards the Ribblesdale line but, as was unfortunately too often the case, possession was handed over to the home side who were able to clear the ball to touch and so hang on for a truly hard fought yet hardly deserved victory.

This week Selby entertain their old foes Pontefract in a Yorkshire Shield Quarter Final and expectations of a large crowd and a thrilling encounter should make for another memorable afternoon at Sandhill Lane with Selby having a very realistic opportunity of progressing to the last four of the competition.