Selby RUFC 11 - 16 Old Crossleyans RUFC

Report by Ray Adamson

In difficult conditions with a blustery wind and persistent rain blowing down the pitch from the railway end of the ground, third placed Selby put up a tremendous fight before going down to league leaders Old Crossleyans, with just one score separating the teams after a compelling, physical battle.

Selby kicked off into the wind and as expected, soon found themselves under pressure as Crossleyans took advantage of the conditions to press into the Selby half. The home side’s defence was severely tested from the off, but stood firm against the visitors’ onslaught. The first significant moment of the game was in the 12th minute when influential winger Joe Ramsay was forced from the field with a serious-looking hamstring injury. The injury forced Selby into a difficult re-arrangement as there were no replacement backs on the bench, so Jacob Robinson was moved into the back line with Sam Broughton taking over at Number 8. Shortly afterwards, Selby were penalised for offside in the middle of the pitch and visiting fly half, Joe Gallagher, who had an excellent game and was subsequently voted the Crossleyans’ Player of the match, made no mistake with the kick from just inside the 10 metre line.

Selby’s response to this early setback gave the home crowd great encouragement as the forwards tore into their opposite numbers and the backs changed the direction of attack to put the Crossleyans defence under sustained pressure for the first time in the game. A penalty conceded for offside on the ten metre line saw home fly half Henry Wright set up a promising position with an excellent kick to the corner. The line out drill by the Selby forwards was executed to perfection, splintering the Crossleyans defensive wall and creating the space for Sam Broughton to crash over wide out on the right hand side. Wright was unable to make a difficult conversion, but Selby deservedly had their noses in front for the first time.

As both teams tried to master the conditions, the game became a tense contest with handling very difficult and possession often kicked to try to gain territorial advantage. Selby’s young Full Back Olley Turvey was excellent in dealing with anything that came his way and constantly looked to turn defence into attack, either with ball in hand or by searching for gaps behind the Crossleyans back line. It was not until the third minute of injury time, with Selby having again been forced into another substitution as prop Adam Leetham was forced to give way to Jamie Dentith, that the visitors struck again when Gallagher successfully converted a second penalty. Again the Selby response was immediate and brought its reward when Crossleyans were penalised for a high tackle 35 metres from their line and Henry Wright stole the half time lead at 8-6 with a fine kick into the teeth of the wind.

From the start of the second half Crossleyans were able to regain possession and force Selby to concede a further penalty after 45 minutes, which Gallagher converted without difficulty to restore his side’s advantage at 9-8. As was to be expected, the home side were able to put the visitors under great pressure with some astute kicking and strong forward drives, eventually winning a further kickable penalty after 56 minutes which just drifted wide of the upright. As the pressure intensified, desperate defence resulted in 2 yellow cards for the visitors as second row forward Martin Hamer and scrum half Joe Stott were guilty of illegally preventing Selby scores close to the line. With a two man advantage, Selby repeatedly opted to kick penalties to the corner rather than take points on offer and superb defence by the League leaders repelled the Selby forwards on numerous occasions until Selby were forced to take 3 points and regain the lead at 11-9. Many of the Selby players and spectators felt that the referee had been unduly lenient on the visitors by not awarding a penalty try when a deliberate knock on in the middle of the pitch prevented an almost certain try and 7 points rather than the 3 gained with Wright’s successful kick after 67 minutes.

With Hamer back on just 2 minutes later, the Crossleyans forwards were restored to full strength and, as was evident throughout the game, conceding points seemed always to bring about renewed energy and vigour. In what was almost a carbon copy of an earlier score by Selby, Crossleyans struck the decisive blow on 70 minutes. A penalty conceded on the 10 metre line was expertly kicked to the corner, the resulting line-out setting the platform for a terrific forward drive which saw Cameron Brannan touch down to put Crossleyans back in the lead at 14-11. A fantastic conversion from wide out by Gallagher stretched the lead to 16-11 in the visitors’ favour and despite their very best efforts, Selby were unable to find any way of breaking the Crossleyans defence, with the referee finally bringing the game to its conclusion after 8 minutes of injury time when Crossleyans spurned the chance of a penalty kick at goal which might have robbed Selby of a thoroughly deserved Bonus Point, instead kicking the ball into touch to conclude a thrilling contest between two of the Yorkshire 1’s leading sides.

Selby now have a week without a League fixture which will hopefully give them the chance to recover from this intense physical battle before their next challenging trip, away to Beverley on the 16th.