NORTHERN DIVISION - YORKSHIRE LEAGUE DIVISION 1.
SELBY RUFC 33 – 20 NORTH RIBBLESDALE RUFC

Referee – Mr. Jim Saunders – East Yorkshire Society

In a hard uncompromising game, Selby deservedly started their Yorkshire 1 campaign with a bonus point win at the expense of an excellent North Ribblesdale team by 33 points to 20. Despite dominating much of the first half Selby went into the break 10 points to 5 in arrears but fought back to lead by 13 points to 10 – after falling behind again by 20 points to 13, Selby came back strongly in the last quarter and claimed their bonus point win with the last play of the game but the final result was very much in doubt until then.

Selby started with Dan Porter returning after holidays at full back and with Martin Protheroe unavailable, Matthew Wood started at Number 8 with New Zealander Rihi Brown starting at flanker. The returning Iain Adamson started on the bench along with debutants Joe Romaniw (front row replacement) and young Charlie Cicero.

In front of a bumper crowd at Sandhill Lane Ribblesdale took the lead as early as the 3rd minute when Selby were penalised for not releasing – fly half Steve Moon kicked the penalty. Selby replied almost immediately when Ribblesdale knocked on from the Selby kick off – Selby won the scrum with number 8 Matthew Wood picking up from the base of the scrum and feeding scrum half Neil Francis (Selby’s Man of the Match) who sent a smart pass to the supporting full back Dan Porter who jinked over for an unconverted try. For the next 20 minutes Selby were in the ascendancy producing some smart running rugby and excellent kicks to touch but a combination of unforced errors and a rock solid Ribblesdale defence frustrated the home team. Then, totally against the run of play, after 31 minutes Ribblesdale re-took the lead after winning their scrum on the Selby 30 metre line – the ball was taken blind side and a combination of poor cover and missed tackles allowed the Ribblesdale number 8 Matt Speres to score the try – Moon converted to give Ribblesdale a 10 points to 5 advantage, a lead they took into the break.

Selby started the second half brightly, pressurising the Ribblesdale line – the pressure appeared not to have paid off when Ribblesdale were awarded the 5 metre scrum but after winning their scrum a poor clearance kick was expertly gathered by Selby full back Dan Porter who went on an unstoppable run to score an unconverted try after 45 minutes and level the scores at 10 points apiece. Selby went back into the lead 7 minutes later with a penalty from Josh Cruise after Ribblesdale were penalised for not releasing. However, Ribblesdale came straight back at Selby winning their scrum on the Selby 30 metre line – some excellent inter-passing albeit assisted by some poor tackling allowed the Ribblesdale substitute Russ Ingham to score the try near the posts – Moon converted to put Ribblesdale back into the lead by 17 points to 13 after 54 minutes. Another Ribblesdale penalty 6 minutes later was safely slotted by Moon to increase Ribblesdale’s lead to 20 points to 13. After 63 minutes Selby reduced their arrears when Ribblesdale were penalised for coming in at the side with Cruise kicking an excellent 48 metre penalty. At this point Selby rang the changes with Iain Adamson replacing Charlton McCoy and young debutant Charlie Cicero replacing Thomas Cobley. Selby were now disrupting the Ribblesdale scrum and it was from one such incident that Ribblesdale were penalised for not releasing with Cruise kicking the penalty to reduce Selby’s arrears to just 1 point. After 70 minutes, Selby were back in the lead after flanker Jacob Robinson made good inroads into the Ribblesdale defence before off loading to centre Teihana Brown who threw a wonderfully weighted pass to skipper Duncan Hardy who went over for the try – Cruise converted to give Selby the lead at 26 points to 20 after 70 minutes. A converted try for Ribblesdale would still give them the win and Selby now had to do some desperate defending but managed to repel any threat that Ribblesdale could offer. Joe Romaniw made his debut after 79 minutes replacing Tom Bell at prop. Two minutes into added on time Ribblesdale ‘back chat’ gave Selby a penalty from fully 54 metres - Cruise’s effort fell just short and wide but Selby would gain possession from the Ribblesdale ‘drop out’. Still the final result was in doubt with Ribblesdale once more applying the pressure with a scrum on the Selby 20 metre line – once again the Selby forwards disrupted their opposite numbers, so much so that winger Iain Adamson was able to kick a loose ball through the Ribblesdale forwards, expertly gather before sprinting to the Ribblesdale 30 metre line and releasing centre Teihana Brown to joyfully score the try under the posts in the fourth minute of added on time – Cruise converted to give Selby a bonus point 33 points to 20 win and a great start to their Yorkshire 1 campaign against very worthy opponents.

Next Saturday, Selby have a tough trip to take on last season’s Yorkshire 2 runners-up Doncaster Phoenix before returning to Sandhill Lane the week after to play Wath Upon Dearne.