Selby returned to action following their enforced 2 week lay off with a deserved Bonus Point victory against a big Leo’s outfit who had won the spoils in the reverse fixture before Christmas.

The home team made the perfect start when, after just 2 minutes, pressure at a Leo’s line out caused the ball to ricochet from the knee of the visitors’ Scrum Half into the arms of Duncan Hardy who gratefully burst through the defence to maintain his impressive try scoring record. A fine conversion from Full Back Dan Porter gave Selby a 7 point lead which unfortunately lasted only 4 minutes. A defensive mistake and a clever kick through the Selby defence resulted in centre Knibbs winning the chase for the touchdown by the corner flag. The difficult conversion was unsuccessful but the gap was reduced to 2 points.

Dan Porter was able to extend the Selby lead by 6 points thanks to a brace of penalty kicks awarded against Leo’s firstly for offside and then for not rolling away from the tackle. As the visitors made a greater impact on the game they too were awarded a penalty which reduced the deficit on 35 minutes when James Henry slotted his only successful kick of the afternoon. As Selby endured stern pressure from the Leo’s Forwards it appeared only a matter of time before the visitors scored but some heroic defending saw the line remain intact and when turn over ball was won play quickly switched to the other end of the pitch. As the half time whistle approached a half break by Ben Booth created just enough of an opening for the abrasive Sam Weller to cross close to the posts, the subsequent conversion giving the home side the luxury of a 20 points to 8 half time lead.

The second half began in a niggly, scrappy fashion, resulting in both scrum halves being sent to cool down in the sin bin for 10 minutes following a needless altercation after 48 minutes. Porter was able to stretch the lead to 15 points with another successful penalty kick before Martin Protheroe replaced the impressive Jason Hirst who was making his first start in Selby colours. A further yellow card to one of the Leo’s forwards was almost immediately turned into a red card as he continued his verbal tirade and the resulting successful penalty opened up a 26 to 8 lead.

Despite being a man down Leo’s hit back strongly and a catch and drive at a line-out resulted in a yellow card for Selby’s Karim Brown for collapsing the maul. However the Selby defence resisted all attempts by the Leodiensians forwards and eventually Josh Cruise, who’s out of hand kicking was exemplary all afternoon, was able to relieve the pressure on the Selby line.

On 73 minutes Selby put the game well out of reach when Alex Arthur, having retrieved a high kick out of defence, made a searing break through the heart of the visitors’ defence before putting Duncan Hardy over for the score from 5 metres out. With the chance of a bonus point Selby went all out for their fourth try and were duly rewarded in the first minute of time added on when a quick tap penalty by Protheroe caught the defence off guard and Weller was quickly on hand to grab his second try of the afternoon. A successful conversion by Josh Cruise was a fitting finale to an impressive personal display by the young stand off and though Selby will face stiffer tests in the coming weeks, a bonus point victory moves the Swans closer to the teams at the top of Yorkshire 2.