York RUFC 25 – 7 Selby RUFC

Report by Ray Adamson

On a perfect day for open Rugby and with York celebrating 50 years since their move to their current home in Clifton, the scene was set for an enthralling local derby, but things did not work out in Selby's favour as they eventually went down to a comprehensive defeat by 25 points to 7. The visitors will look back on the game with considerable frustration, having no fewer than 5 players shown a yellow card, effectively meaning that they played 50 minutes of the match with a one player disadvantage. This, combined with regular injuries, meant that Selby struggled to find any cohesion and spent long periods of the game on the back foot.

York took an early advantage from Selby's indiscipline when a penalty after 8 minutes allowed them to kick to the corner and from the resulting line-out the forwards created the drive from which scrum half Ben Johnson was able to force his way over for a try which fly half Neil McClure was unable to convert. Selby saw injured second rower Stephen Clark replaced by Charlie Cicero in the first of too many forced replacements, but the response from the forwards was positive as they forced a penalty of their own after 11 minutes and the chance to reduce the deficit. Unfortunately Josh Cruise was unable to find the target as his kick drifted wide of the uprights. The disappointment for the travelling fans was short lived as Selby took the lead just 4 minutes later when a drive from a line-out 15 metres from the York line put the home side under tremendous pressure and scrum half James Fox was able to dummy his way over between the sticks to present Cruise with the easiest of conversions to give his side a 7-5 lead.

As Selby continued to enjoy an advantage both territorially and in terms of possession, it seemed they may increase their lead after just 21 minutes as a strong set scrum drove the home forwards back towards their own line. Somehow the advantage was lost as Selby were penalised and York were able to clear their lines and relieve the pressure. A further injury after 29 minutes to winger Ben Lunt saw Stephen Clark return to the fray but the necessary re-organisation caused more disruption to the Selby game plan. Things were scarcely helped shortly afterwards when Josh Cruise became the first Selby player to find himself shown a yellow card, leaving his team to try to weather the storm up to the half time break. Just when it seemed that they were capable of defending their line a lucky bounce saw Neil McClure re-gather a speculative kick ahead and cross in the corner. To add insult to injury he then struck an excellent conversion from wide out to establish a 12-7 advantage for the home side heading into the break.

Selby made a couple of further changes at the break with Tom Bell replacing Sam Broughton and Danny Wilkinson on at scrum half for James Fox. With Josh Cruise back on after his 10 minute spell in the sin bin things looked brighter for the visitors and with only 3 minutes of the second half gone Selby were awarded a free kick less than 10 metres out from the York line. A quick tap by hooker Millar McCoy saw him drive for the line. With a pile of bodies from both sets of forwards, Selby were bemused to find themselves penalised at the breakdown, the scoring chance was gone and from that pivotal moment things appeared to go downhill for Selby. Within 3 minutes McClure extended his side's advantage when Selby were penalised for crossing and a further injury, this time to Charlie Cicero, meant that Fox was recalled and another re-shuffle had to be made. Fox's stay was brief as he became the second Selby player to be yellow carded just 2 minutes after re-entering the fray, the penalty that he conceded allowing McClure to stretch his team's lead to 11 points at 18-7.
Clark was unable to continue after 60 minutes and Sam Broughton was forced back onto the field and things got worse for the visitors when Rob Oliver was also shown a yellow card in the 62nd minute, meaning that a disorganised Selby side saw themselves reduced to 13 players. As expected York began to dominate proceedings but desperate defence by the whole Selby team continued to frustrate the home side. Barely had Selby regained a full compliment of players than their numbers were again reduced when Sam Cruise was shown a yellow card in the 74th minute. Still the spirit in the side held firm as York pressed for further scores but eventually, in the second minute of time added on for injuries the home side managed to breach the Selby defence when a kick through the defence saw Johnson win the race to the line for his second try of the afternoon. With time running out he drop kicked the conversion to mark the final score of the match. However there was still time for further drama as Selby centre Iain Adamson became the fifth team member to be sent to the sin bin in the 5th minute of time added on and York frantically went in search of a fourth try to gain a bonus point. Fortunately the 13 remaining Selby players somehow found the energy to see out the final moments without conceding any more points or yellow cards.

With a tough fixture coming up against table-topping Bridlington at Sandhill Lane this week, Selby will need to address the issues of indiscipline which cost them so dear against York to ensure that they have a full team on the pitch throughout the 80 minutes of the game, whilst maintaining the excellent spirit and never say die attitude that enabled them to stay in contention in the most difficult of situations.