Leodiensian RUFC 8 – 41 Selby RUFC

Report by Ian Marlow (Posted by Stephen Ward)

After a close first half Selby Swans produced their best rugby of the season in the second to fly away to their biggest win of the season, and a five-point haul to cement their place in mid-table Yorkshire One.

Playing against the breeze in soggy conditions Selby started well, moving the ball wide whenever possible and threatening the Leodiensian line from the outset. Several good chances presented themselves, but a lack of final handling finesse saw them bombed - before the inevitable happened and Leodiensian put together some moves of their own to march back downfield to take the lead with a penalty kick. With both sides continuing to play open running rugby, ably assisted by Mr Referee sensibly giving a little bit of leeway to both sides to let the game flow, the largish crowd of Coronavirus defiers were being well-entertained.

With the Swans pack providing plenty of good ball, chances continued to come - and unfortunately go - until some absolute class from Jay Robinson who broke upfield from a turnover on Selby’s 22 to find Alex Webster, who then expertly sent full-back flier Joe Ramsay on his way for a stunning try and 3-7. Selby then frustratingly undid their lead as they overplayed it from the restart and failed to clear their line, giving Leodiensian easy field position for their pack to rumble over for 8-7. More good pressure from the restart though earned Selby a lead-regaining Josh Cruise penalty for 8-10 at half-time.

With the breeze now behind them Selby were on the attack again and some lovely back play opened up Leodiensian, only for another poor final pass to deny them - but Cruise did stretch the lead to 8-13 with an excellent long-range penalty shortly after. With Selby supporters starting to fear that all their missed chances may come back to bite them, a purple patch of superb rugby saw the Swans home and hosed in double quick time. Firstly, prop Duncan Hardy combined beautifully with Robinson from half-way to send supporting scrum-half Danny Wilkinson in under the posts and then, after excellent forward recycling, substitute centre Liam Hogan battered his way to within inches of the line to feed Wilkinson again for 8-27. And Selby weren’t done as Hogan again caused havoc up the middle to once again send the Wilkinson in for his quick-time hat trick – and Hogan then put the cherry on the cake by deciding he’d done enough passing for the day, if not the season, and eschewed the two man overlap outside him to power through a by now demoralised Leodiensian defence for a well-deserved try of his own and final score of 8-41.

So, an excellent all-round team performance from Selby, in both attack and defence, with the backs finishing off some great tight work by the forwards, for whom Ashley Parkinson was particularly prominent. It was also evident that Selby’s patience and discipline were much improved this week - and it is no coincidence that Selby’s highest score of the season correlates to their lowest number of penalties conceded!

Selby are due to play keen local rivals Pontefract at home this Saturday (KO, 3pm) – and it is hoped that national circumstances do not dictate otherwise!