Selby RUFC 27 – 13 Guisborough RUFC

Report by Ian Marlow (Posted by Stephen Ward)

Selby moved further away from the relegation positions by registered their first five point maximum haul of the season against lowly Guisborough after again coming from behind to eventually run out as comfortable winners. However, the Swans made much harder work of it than it need have been and they mustn’t let this result distract from the improvements they will need to show to compete effectively with teams placed higher in the league.

Playing against the breeze Selby started as they meant to go on by committing a raft of errors and penalties and, again, having to rely on a combination of the relative lethargy of their opponent’s attack combined with some thankfully sturdy defence, with injury returnee Ashley Parkinson in the vanguard, to keep the Tees Valley men out. Indeed it was a full 12 minutes before Selby managed to even get out of their half, and that only briefly after a good break by Alex Webster, but it didn’t take long for Selby to muck up yet again to hand the initiative right back to Guisborough, before another inevitable penalty gave them a 0-3 lead. And the poor play continued as puny ball carrying by Selby’s backline saw the ball being ripped like sweets from their baby like grasps on a number of occasions, to eventually gift Guisborough another penalty for a 0-6 lead after 25 minutes.

Just as many in the crowd were thinking a pre-Christmas trip to Ikea (the horror!) might have been a better Saturday afternoon option, Selby eventually got their backsides into gear as the forwards camped on the Guisborough line before winger James Robinson did his best forward impression to power over to cut the lead to 5-6. However, for the umpteenth time this season, Selby’s abysmal failure to deal with the kick off ensued, as a sigh-inducing comedy of errors played out, before Guisborough grabbed their chance for a try and a 5-13 lead on the stroke of half time. However, there was still just enough time for Liam Hogan and Tom Edwards to make powerful breaks to set up a five yard scrum, where Selby’s pack asserted their dominance for chief try scrounger Sam Broughton to dot the try down for a 10-13 half time score.

With the elements now in their favour Selby were definite favourites but dreadful tackling immediately from their kick off allowed Guisborough straight back into their 22, where they dominated possession – indeed it was indicative of Selby’s error-strewn efforts that, despite the strong breeze behind them, it took at least 15 minutes to even get back across the half way line. However, Guisborough had little cutting edge themselves and after turning down an eminently kickable penalty to retake the lead in favour of an unsuccessful line out attempt, they never again looked like troubling the scorers.

Finally on the hour, another dominant Selby scrummage gave the chance for Broughton to break well to feed the supporting Danny Wilkinson to scoot over for the lead regaining try - before further sustained forward domination on the opposition line allowed Broughton to barrel over, yet again, from a five yard scrum for the bonus point try and a 22-13 lead. And to put a perhaps somewhat artificial gloss on the score line, straight from the kick off a great take under pressure (hurrah!) from Jack Hebden gave Wilkinson the chance to break upfield, before kicking on for wingman Robinson to win the race to touchdown for a final 27-13 score line.

Selby now travel to high flying Old Brodleians on Saturday for what always has been, and will be again, a very difficult encounter – and Selby will hopefully remember that the Old Brodleians pitch has a 4 metre diagonal drop into the bottom right corner; and the only way to stand any chance of winning (as Brodleians themselves know - and will do) is to put the ball into the corner at every available opportunity. Just a reminder!