Selby RUFC 25 – 17 Bridlington RUFC

Report by Ian Marlow (Posted by Stephen Ward)

Selby’s strength-in-depth was the star on Saturday as a much-changed Swans team finally overcame a spirited Bridlington to just about see off the threat of relegation for this season – and with the Christmas decorations not even up yet! With injuries and unavailability depriving the Swans of several of their more experienced players, a number of fringe players had to step up for what is always a stern test, and step up they did as they fitted in to the team systems so seamlessly you could hardly see the joints.

Selby came close early on as Joe Ramsay made a trademark break up the wing only to be thwarted by a toe in touch but, while always trying to play a more expansive game, the Swans were turning over plenty of possession to Bridlington who adopted a more cautious workmanlike approach. With both teams defending solidly chances were few but fine breaks by Ramsay, Jay Robinson and Scott Birch were only denied tries by loose final handling.

With Selby clearly in the territorial ascendency, the deadlock was finally broken as the pack drove a Bridlington scrum off their own ball for Scott Birch to pick up and power over for 5-0. Unfortunately, straight from the restart Selby gifted Bridlington an early Christmas present as they lost possession in trying to run the ball out of their 22, and Bridlington drove it over for 5-7. With Selby’s skill level not quite matching their ambition, Bridlington were starting to see plenty of possession from Swan errors and, led by their experienced player-coach Mike Myerscough, they were over again shortly after for a worrying 5-12 lead at half-time.

With Selby’s pack continuing to cause problems to the Bridlington eight at scrum time a long-range Josh Cruise penalty closed the gap, and then with Bridlington’s discipline starting to let them down another Cruise penalty closed the score to 11-12 ten minutes into the half. Yet another scrummage-inspired penalty gave Cruise another chance to take the lead but Selby turned it down to run it and the gamble paid off as, after great driving play from Duncan Hardy and Scott Birch, man-of-the-match Brendan Lanaghan finished it off for a super team try and 18-12 lead.

With Selby now well on top chances were coming regularly, but frustratingly the next important score was proving elusive as they kept losing possession near to the Bridlington line. However, Selby’s ever-increasing scrum dominance was an insurance against the problem - and when they won yet another scrum against the head, replacement scrum-half Jarrod Dixon combined beautifully with Jay Robinson to put Joe ‘the Rocket’ Ramsay in for an exquisite try and safe 25-12 lead.

With time running out and Bridlington now only playing for a losing bonus-point they started to throw it around and made good progress upfield where, despite some excellent Selby defending, Myerscough eventually crashed over for a try – but alas to no avail, as the deserved bonus-point conversion was missed and time called at 25-17.

So, a great squad performance from Selby and they will need to do it all over again away at third-placed Beverley on Saturday - where supporters can enjoy the delights of an historic market town at Christmas time, and a bit of rugby!