Selby RUFC 32 v 20 Ripon RUFC

On a scorching afternoon at Sandhill Lane and in front of another large crowd, Selby returned to winning ways with a 6 try demolition of old adversaries Ripon.

The game was barely a minute old when Selby opened their account, a defensive mistake by the visitors presenting Selby with the feed at a scrum 20 metres out. A powerful burst through the middle by Sam Weller breached the Ripon defence and Duncan Hardy was quickly up in support to claim another opportunist try.

Ollie Saunders was next to benefit from Ripon’s defensive frailties when, in the 15th minute, turn over ball was won by the Selby forwards just 30 metres from the visitors’ line. Quick hands created the space for Saunders to canter over mid way between the posts and the touchline in a position which resulted in the solitary successful conversion of the game for centre Iain Adamson.

Despite a strong showing from the Ripon forwards who were beginning to get on top of their hosts, it was Selby who extended their lead after just 21 minutes. Good line out ball was recycled on several occasions before full back Ben Lunt spotted the gap in the Ripon three quarter line to cross for a trademark score.

Ripon were rewarded for their efforts in the 32nd minute when, following a succession of penalties against Selby, the forwards drove over the Selby line to give number 8 Adam Scott-Paul the first of his two tries. As the Selby forwards started to get frustrated by the pressure being put on them, the referee lost patience and yellow carded 2 of the Selby back row within a minute of each other. It was hardly surprising that the Ripon forwards were able to cash in on their significant advantage, a 5 metre scrum being driven over the Selby line after 38 minutes for Adam Scott-Paul to complete the score.

Incredibly, Selby were able to respond to this set back when, 2 minutes into added on time a line-out was stolen against the throw and the ball was cleverly worked to the blind side and Ollie Saunders was on hand to register his second try of the afternoon.

Shortly after the break Selby were back to 15 men with Karim Brown back on after his spell in the bin and Jay Robinson replacing James Blaymire after his spell on the sidelines had elapsed. However Ripon were next to score after a penalty awarded for holding on at the tackle was successfully converted by Patrick Whitaker. At 22-13 the next score was always going to be important and it was Selby who were able to extend their lead in the 53rd minute when, from a line-out close to the Ripon line, Tim Thomas was able to crash over for his first try for the Club.

The result was put beyond doubt in the 63rd minute when, after the ball was passed through no fewer than 8 pairs of hands, Jay Robinson showed tremendous pace to race in from 30 metres out, evading several desperate defenders on his run to the line.

With the result and bonus point in the bag and a desire to conserve energy on a blistering afternoon, Selby took their foot off the gas and in the final minute allowed the visitors to cross for a late consolation try for Gareth Osbourne courtesy of a stolen line-out close to the Selby line. The conversion by Patrick Whitaker was only the third successful kick of the afternoon by either team, a statistic reminiscent of the great Jonny Wilkinson at this year’s World Cup down under in New Zealand.