NORTHERN DIVISION - YORKSHIRE LEAGUE DIVISION 1.
SELBY RUFC 27 – 28 WATH UPON DEARNE

Referee – Mr. Dave Lindsay – West Yorkshire Society

Another thrilling encounter in front of a bumper crowd at Sandhill Lane saw Selby fall behind to Wath by 11 points to nil in the first quarter. By half time however, Selby had clawed their way back into the game with a 17 points to 14 advantage. Their lead was extended to 27 points to 14 by the 50th minute but they failed to close the game out and eventually lost, for the second successive week, by a single point with Wath taking the win by 28 points to 27.

Selby had to make one change from their selected XV with Iain Adamson replacing full back Dan Porter who was unavailable. Andrew Pocklington, back from his exploits in the Great North Run was back at prop with Brendan Lanaghan making his first start of the season in the second row. Thomas Bell, Alex Oliver and Charlton McCoy, all regular starters this season, made up the bench.

The first quarter belonged almost entirely to Wath, assisted by a Selby side that were making too many unforced errors, and they went in front after 13 minutes after Selby were penalised for offside at the line out. Fly half Andrew Appleyard kicked the penalty. Two minutes later Josh Cruise attempted a penalty kick from 48 metres which fell short and wide. At this juncture, full back Iain Adamson had to leave the field with hamstring problems to be replaced by Charlton McCoy. After 19 minutes the trusty boot of Appleyard gave Wath a 6 points to nil advantage. Only 2 minutes later, disaster struck for Selby when a clearance kick out of the Selby defence was charged down by Appleyard who won the race for the touchdown – his conversion attempt failed – his only failure of the afternoon and things looked bleak for Selby at 11 points to nil down. However, Selby then began to show promise with young Charlton McCoy making good ground to the Wath 10 metre line before being bundled into touch. Soon after the Selby forwards turned the Wath scrum gaining the put-in – the scrum was duly won and after 2 more phases of play, the ball was spread wide for centre Teihana to stretch over for the try after 25 minutes – Cruise missed the conversion but Selby were up and running and only 4 minutes later reduced their arrears to a single point after the Wath full back lost the ball in the tackle with scrum half Neil Francis putting flanker Jacob Robinson over the line for another unconverted try. Another Appleyard penalty after 36 minutes put Wath in front by 14 points to 10 but Selby came roaring back 3 minutes later with Martin Protheroe picking up from the base of the scrum and feeding Francis who once again put Jacob Robinson over for the try – this time Cruise kicked the conversion to put Selby in front for the first time in the match by 17 points to 14 – this lead was very nearly increased a minute later after some excellent running rugby from the backs with Charlton McCoy adjudged to have stepped on the touchline 8 metres short of the Wath try line. At the break Selby had the lead by 17 points to 14.

Things got even better for Selby in the 3rd quarter of the match with a Cruise penalty after 44 minutes to extend the lead to 20 points to 14. Six minutes later Selby scored probably the best try of the match with Rihi Brown putting Jacob Robinson over for his hat-trick of tries and a bonus point for Selby – Cruise once again converted to put Selby in front by 27 points to 14 – there was a palpable sigh of relief from the Selby supporters on the stand, some probably thinking that the game was won but with another 30 minutes to go and with a team of Wath’s quality, Selby still had more work to do. Alex Oliver replaced Martin Protheroe at this point. After 62 minutes Wath were held up over the Selby line after relentless pressure from their forwards – this pressure eventually paid off from the resultant 5 metre scrum with scrum half Joe Bartlett credited with the try – Appleyard kicked an excellent conversion to reduce Wath’s arrears to 21 points to 27 – only one score behind. Wath continued to put Selby under pressure with Selby making a double substitution after 69 minutes – Pocklington replacing Bell and Protheroe back on for Lanaghan but once again the Wath forwards were hammering the Selby defence on the 5 metre line with Appleyard going round the blindside to touch down in the corner in the 71st minute – the same player then kicked an excellent conversion to put Wath back in front by 28 points to 27. Despite all the pressure Selby endured, they should have retaken the lead 3 minutes later with some excellent back play creating a 3 on 1 overlap but a long miss pass sailed into touch when the easy option of passing to the nearest three quarter colleague would have guaranteed the try. Selby still had the chance to win the game after Wath were penalised for a high tackle 36 metres out but straight in front of their posts – the penalty kick was narrowly missed – there were still 3 minutes of normal time to play plus 6 minutes of added on time but there were no more chances for Selby with Wath comfortably holding out for the victory by 28 points to 27. Wath take 4 points for the win with Selby having to be satisfied with 2 bonus points (scoring 4 tries and losing by 7 points or less). This was a game that, in the end, Selby should have won but a game is never over until the referee blows the final whistle and great credit must go to Wath for their determined come-back.

Next Saturday, Selby travel to play winless Keighley – never one of Selby’s ‘happy hunting grounds’ kick off 3 P.M.