NORTHERN DIVISION YORKSHIRE LEAGUE DIVISION 1.
NORTH RIBBLESDALE RUFC 39 – 0 SELBY RUFC

Referee – Mr. Hanson Haigh – West Yorkshire Society

Report by Reg Phillips

The long journey to the wonderful scenery of the Yorkshire Dales, coupled with the unbearable excitement of our visitors from the Isle of the Long White Cloud on seeing the hills alive with so many sheep, proved too much at the end of an arduous season for the Swans to raise their game against a rip roaring Settle side.

Selby started the first half against a strong wind & realised early on that they would need to raise their game against a young exuberant North Ribblesdale, but within three minutes of kick off they shipped the first of seven tries scored against them. With off half Richardson calling the shots throughout the game he underlined his menace in orchestrating a dummy runner & run around to send centre Bolland through a huge gap to touch down under the posts.
The Selby scrum was keeping the home pack under pressure and looked to be working back into the game, but a turnover in midfield saw speedy winger Gill collect the first of his brace, and his pace was always too much for the Swans to handle. Indeed speed of hand and foot from the Ewesmen was unravelling the Selby defence at will and Gill, McFarlane and Moon all added scores before half time against a hapless & disorganised defence. Richardson fortunately was only able to convert two of five tries.

It seemed that even the weather had turned against the visitors as the blustery wind dropped for the second half but thankfully so did the home side’s desire; however that was not until back row player Henare skipped in after two minutes to put any hope of a Selby recovery into Neverland.

The half continued with Selby making sporadic bursts into home territory, but, with no cutting edge, were unable to bother the man with the numbers. Injuries also continued to mount with flanker Sam Broughton damaging a shoulder and the burly Sam Weller playing the second half of his final game for the club with one arm held to his side as his troublesome shoulder caused him discomfort. The final say was inevitably had by North Ribblesdale as they sealed their account, & the game with a try from the player who scored the first, Bolland...

With this result, Selby slipped to 6th spot & it would seem likely that one victory out of two games for York could push them to a finishing position of 7th, very creditable for a first season in their return to Yorkshire One. All credit to players & coaches for their hard work during the season & for continuing to entertain us all with their dynamic brand of rugby & we look forward to it continuing next season