Selby RUFC 15 – 27 Old Crossleyans RUFC

Report by Ray Adamson

Despite a herculean effort from Selby’s Forwards which saw them totally dominate the current League leaders at the Scrum, Selby were unable to turn their advantage into points until the last 10 minutes of the game by which time the result was already decided. Two short spells, one in each half, when the visitors scored 2 unanswered tries showed what a dangerous side Crossleyans can be with ball in hand and given the opportunity to employ their attacking, offloading skills. With Selby lacking a reliable place kicker, opportunities that may well have gained reward from the kicking tee were repeatedly turned down and the kick to touch or scrum taken instead. Despite having little difficulty securing their own ball in the set piece, Selby found the Crossleyans defence a tough nut to crack and ultimately lacked the creative flair to turn pressure into points.

Having spent the majority of the first half hour in the Crossleyans half Selby had nothing to show for their tremendous effort and within the space of 10 minutes the game swung decisively in the visitors’ favour. Firstly a penalty conceded in a promising attacking position allowed Crossleyans to relieve pressure, then a yellow card to centre Liam Hogan forced a re-shuffle in the three quarters and a heavy tackle by stand off Andy Kehoe saw him having to leave the field with concussion. Crossleyans took immediate advantage of the situation and racked up 17 unanswered points in the last 10 minutes of the half when winger Gareth Sweeney opened the scoring from a penalty in front of the posts and, with Selby still trying to work out the most effective combination for their re-structured back-line, Rob Oliver and Billy Hammond took advantage of the miss-matches in the three quarters to run in tries under the posts, both of which Sweeney converted with ease. Anyone arriving at half time and looking only at the statistics of the first half would have had difficulty believing the score line and so it continued into the second half.

Although Crossleyans skilful ball handling and solid defence allowed them to spend an increasing amount of time in the Selby half, the Selby defence were up to the task and whenever a scrum was awarded, the home side dealt with it powerfully and so were able to quickly return to the attack. Having again enjoyed the better of possession and territory for the opening 20 minutes of the second half and turning down kicks at goal, Selby were dealt a couple of hammer blows as the game moved into the final quarter as two sweeping attacks by Crossleyans saw them add a further 2 tries in the space of a couple of minutes, the first scored by Joe McFarlane and then quickly added to as Billy Hammond crossed for his second. Although neither conversion was successful, the game was won and lost at 27-nil in favour of the visitors.

It is great testament to the Selby players’ spirit and fitness that they were able to strike back so decisively in the final 10 minutes and at least give a mark of respectability to the score-line and gain reward for the unstinting work of the forwards. On 70 minutes a penalty kick to the corner saw Selby with the chance to attack from a 5 metre line out and following numerous drives at the line Second Row Stephen Clark showed excellent footwork as he took advantage of the smallest of gaps on the blind side to step and force his way over just a few metres in from touch. When Crossleyans were penalised from the kick off, quick thinking from Scrum Half Danny Wilkinson saw Selby return to within 5 metres of the Crossleyans line and set up the position from which Winger Ashton Dallimore was able to add to his tally of first team tries. As the game moved towards the final whistle Selby’s other winger, Matthew Leetham, was able to show off his skills to cross for the final score of the game. A poor kick out of defence by the Crossleyans scrum half landed between the 22 and ten metre line and the ball was quickly moved into open space where Leetham was given the chance to run at his opposite number one on one. For the rugby purists it was a classic winger’s try as Leetham first stood his man up and then showed great acceleration to go round the outside of the final defender to dive in at the corner.

No doubt Selby will reflect on the chances missed in this latest League fixture but will also take great heart from a performance which put the League leaders under such pressure for long spells of the game and should promise much for the rest of this season’s Yorkshire 1 campaign.