Selby RUFC 21 – 57 Moortown RUFC

Report by Ian Marlow (Posted by Stephen Ward)

Selby returned to league rugby taking on second placed Moortown in front of a large crowd at Sandhill Lane, who were treated to some excellent fifteen man rugby – unfortunately for home supporters though it was mostly perpetrated by the North Leedsmen who showed why they are promotion favourites as they outclassed Selby in most aspects of play. Selby will be disappointed though that they didn’t at least gain a try bonus point as they came back strongly in the second half, before fading away to finally leave with nothing to show for their efforts.

Selby’s best play came very early on as a long touch find from Harry Cruise established field position for the forwards and backs to recycle possessions to allow Liam Hogan, starting as centre this week, to muscle his way over for a well taken converted try and 7-0 lead. Moortown then began to exert pressure of their own and with Selby’s scrum and line out both struggling from the start they were quick to restore parity with a slick try of their own, before more pressure down the right panicked Selby into a mistake gifting them the lead 7-14 after barely 15 minutes. Moortown then took the game right away from Selby with some very impressive team play for the rest of the half as they were quicker in thought and deed to move the ball rapidly and relentlessly to various points of attack to score four more tries for a 7-36 half time drubbing. Selby for their part defended resolutely, if in vain, but it was disappointing to see their own game, particularly their previously solid line outs and scrummages, fall apart so much under pressure as they failed to control what little ball they had.

The second half though brought a revival in Selby’s fortunes as they showed how important being able to control your own game (no matter what) is, as a good break by Charlie Cicero was taken on by the indefatigable Tom Edwards to set up position on the Moortown line. And when Moortown cleared long, the kick was returned strongly by Hogan before a beautiful break and dummy by Harry Cruise sent in Ash Dallimore for a well-deserved and relieving try. The Swans continued to belie their dismal first half efforts as they started to build good pressure of their own, playing through the phases and making plenty of breaks to test Moortown’s own resolve although, still, Selby’s line out kept misfiring to thwart their own efforts. After another try to Moortown, good forward play from Selby sent prop Duncan Hardy over for their third try to improve the score and, with fifteen minutes still remaining, raise hopes of scraping an unlikely four try bonus point to at least glean something from a pretty comprehensive beating.

However, it was not to be as Selby again disappointed as they simply fizzled out for the remainder of the match, unable to piece together any further meaningful play as a successions of errors gifted Moortown possession and territory and a final try to take them over the half century mark. As Moortown clocked off for the day, a Selby line out on the Moortown line offered a last ditch redemption for the Swans - but in a painful indictment of their line out travails all day, and despite Moortown not even contesting the throw, the ball was lost and the game over.

Selby now travel to local rivals Pontefract on Saturday for their first league clash in a number of years and the Swans will need to be on their game for the full eighty minutes to take anything from what is always a fiercely contested derby.