Selby RUFC 0 - 20 Malton and Norton RUFC

Report by Ray Adamson

Playing against the second placed Team in the League with a record of 14 wins from 17 games and a points’ difference of over 200, expectations were pretty low for the Selby side currently battling to maintain their Yorkshire League 1 status. Despite going down by 4 tries to nil, no-one who turned out to cheer on Selby’s mostly home grown talent left feeling that they had been let down as the home side put in a tremendous defensive effort to restrict the powerful Malton side to 20 points, even managing to prevent any score for a 40 minute period in the middle of the game.

Statistics show the considerable advantage gained by the Malton side who won 100% of their own Line Out ball and stole one third of Selby’s throws, whilst scrum figures show that the Malton forwards stole 5 feeds against the head without conceding the feed all afternoon. Inevitably, Selby found themselves having to defend for long periods and it is great testament to the spirit within the squad that they were able to withstand the onslaught as well as they did, with every player committing themselves fully throughout.
Barely 2 minutes had been played before the visitors were attacking the Selby line and full back Zwelli Sodladla was forced into touch just a metre short of the line. However the respite was short lived as Malton took the lead just 3 minutes later when a line out catch ten metres out saw the visiting forwards drive the Selby pack back over their own line for a simple try credited to flanker Sam Triffitt. Sodladla’s conversion was marginally off target as were all of his subsequent kicks at goal as the full back struggled to master the difficult kicking conditions. Selby’s cause was not helped when number 8 Josh Booth was harshly yellow carded after 14 minutes for a technical offence and Malton quickly took advantage of the extra man, taking a scrum against the head 10 metres from the Selby line just 4 minutes later; flanker Ali Coe creating the space for number 8 Josh Heggie to crash over. The third try followed soon after Booth’s return to the action as the visitors forced a 5 metre scrum and the forwards’ unstoppable drive gave Sam Triffitt his second try of the afternoon. Despite having little possession to work with Selby were then able to frustrate Malton’s best attacking efforts for the rest of the half, going into the break with just 15 points behind when a much greater deficit might have been expected.

The second half continued in much the same vein as the first with the visitors dominating possession and Selby battling to stay in the game without ever mounting a serious challenge on the Malton line. The one opportunity the home side had to make an impression on the scoreboard came after 70 minutes when a penalty kick to the corner saw Selby with an attacking line out 5 metres from the Malton line. Unfortunately the throw missed its target, Malton took control and drove their way to half way before a knock on gave Selby the feed at the scrum. A massive drive saw the scrum taken against the head again and when Number 8 Coe took advantage of a wide blind side full back Sodladla was finally given the space to show what a dangerous player he was in attack as he left the Selby defence for dead with a searing break down the left flank for an excellent individual score which sealed the 4 try bonus for his side in spite of another failed conversion.

Selby are unlikely to face any opposition which will present them with such a stern test of character in the remainder of the season and will be hopeful that the tremendous spirit they showed last Saturday will stand them in good stead in the decisive fixtures over the last 2 months of the season as they continue their quest to stay in Yorkshire League 1.