SELBY RUFC 10 - 6 SCARBOROUGH RUFC

Report by Ray Adamson

In atrocious conditions, Selby's young squad put in a tremendous defensive effort to overcome their opponents from Scarborough and give Coach Mike McClure-Hicks a great start to his tenure. Despite having the large majority of possession and territorial advantage, the much fancied Scarborough side found it nearly impossible to breach the resolute Selby rearguard. Indeed, despite twice being reduced to 14 men in the first half, Selby frustrated the visitors at every opportunity, competing magnificently at the breakdown and quickly smothering any half chance that Scarborough managed to create. On a drier day, with more favourable kicking conditions Selby might well have found themselves heading into the break with a lead, but Josh Cruise, on his return to Selby after a season at Otley, was unable to hit the target with a couple of penalties awarded as the half drew to a close.

There is no doubt that the home side went into the break in the more positive frame of mind with the score locked at a very tense nil-nil. With a slight advantage in conditions for the second half, the Selby faithful were hopeful that their side might grind out a morale boosting victory. However it was Scarborough who gained the upper hand from the re-start and after 48 minutes a penalty awarded for not releasing the player at the tackle presented centre Graham Hogg with a straightforward kick to give his side a 3 point advantage. The response from Selby was immediate and incisive. A penalty awarded near half way was drilled into touch just 5 metres from the visitors line by full back Josh Cruise and, following a text book catch and drive at the line-out, brother, Sam Cruise was driven over for the only try of the afternoon. Josh then hit a superb conversion from wide out to give the home side a slender 7-3 advantage.

Scarborough returned to the attack, spending long periods in and around the Selby 22 but the Selby defence held firm in the face of a fierce onslaught and it seemed that the visitors were running out of ideas, relying on their forwards and centres to try to bulldoze their way through. A penalty after 58 minutes gave Hogg the chance to reduce the deficit but his kick was off target and it was not until the 66th minute that he was able to claw his team back to 7-6 courtesy of a penalty from in front of the posts.

Selby's cause was given a boost just 2 minutes later when Scarborough second row forward Mikey Readman was shown a Red card for a punch to the head of Selby's replacement Prop Andrew Tunningley. Josh Cruise made no mistake with the resulting penalty and the 4 point advantage was restored. Although reduced to 14 men, Scarborough continued to drive forward, but lacked the ingenuity to break down the Selby defence, despite continuing to enjoy the lion's share of possession. As the game moved deep into injury time it was Selby who threatened to score again, but Josh Cruise was narrowly unable to convert the penalty awarded for holding on in the tackle. There was just time for the re-start from the 22, but a crunching tackle from Duncan Hardy on the Scarborough winger forced the ball into touch and with the resulting scrum won, Selby's replacement scrum half Andy McLoughlin was able to seal a memorable victory by gleefully kicking the ball onto the Clubhouse roof.

The defensive effort from all players was outstanding but the Selby forwards will take great heart from a performance which saw them take 2 strikes against the head in the tight scrum and comfortably win their line-out ball in the most difficult conditions imaginable. This week Selby entertain Hullensians who will no doubt provide another stern test of Selby's defensive qualities, but the confidence gained from the victory against Scarborough will undoubtedly stand all squad members in good stead.