A penalty too far…

Jamie Skelton lead a strong and youthful Selby RUFC 2nd team out from the changing room to face what would be the toughest test of the season so far, facing a Pontefract side notorious for fielding rugby league players.

On the day, the average age of the Selby team being just 22, and looking through the names on the team sheet you can recognise most of them as ‘home grown’ players. Starting their journey in the minis and junior section, all those years ago on a Sunday morning. This stands testimony to the dedicated volunteers, both past and present at Selby RUFC for continually upholding a family centred ethos.

The whistle blew for the start of the game and the game was on. It was a simple battle. The team that could hold on to the ball the most and not give away penalties would win the game writes Paul Gabel.

Selby started well with a solid defence, tackle after tackle being made from all players. In particular, Case, Ginty, Keetley and Heath, tight around the ruck area and the backs making sure the one on one tackles were made, not letting the Pontefract attack intimidate them.

The game for the first 15 minutes was played in the middle of the park with possession passing backwards and forwards between both teams. Having very little opportunities to break the line started to frustrate both sides and the penalties started to creep in. Selby mainly for offside or not releasing the ball and Pontefract for the ‘rugby league style’ tackles.

Eventually, something had to give, a good passage of play around the halfway line by Pontefract allowed the fast and straight running centres to break the tackles and proceed to run in the first score of the day. This was converted to add the 2 extra points leaving Selby down 0-7 having played around 25 minutes.

As with all Selby sides, they regrouped and started again, ball in hand, working towards the Pontefract try line, phase after phase utilising both forwards and backs. They would make the hard yards, only to make a mistake and hand over the ball to Pontefract to counter attack but the Selby defence held strong and when the ball did come back, Selby were still in the opponent’s half and able to add a few more meters to territory before losing the ball again. This was the theme for the last 10 minutes of the first half and were rewarded with an unconverted try by Crouch. Leaving the score at half time 5-7.

The team talk by Skelton was about the level of intensity needed to win the game, the discipline needed to be 100% and with patience, the victory would come. Having said all this the game restarted with the same pattern as the first, played in the middle of the field with possession going backwards and forwards between the two different styles of play but evenly matched sides.

Frustration set in to both teams and trying to find that smallest of gaps to run through was inevitably going to take its toll on discipline. The referee decided that Selby had given one to many penalties and after a questionable tackle yellow carded a Selby player for the obligatory 10 minutes.

This was Pontefract’s moment, and after working towards the Selby try line, statistically it had to happen. Selby gave away a kickable penalty and Pontefract took the 3 points.

Selby were certainly not down and out, yes one man down but with ball in hand again worked up the field, phase after phase with some good running by Thomas Gabel, backing himself around the outside and the Bramley brothers showing their maturity and passion in front of their Grandfather, who was watching from the sidelines, with secure tackles again and again.

Patience eventually paid off for Selby, when a sneaky little dummy pass from James Dugher at the base of a ruck, opened a gap and he was able to break a half tackle and go over the line to score and put Selby level 10-10.

Now it was time for the slightly older players to take control of the game, Sudron, Kirk, Campbell, Brown, Hill and J Gabel all showing the younger lads how to knuckle down when it is needed. Showing composure under pressure and playing team rugby, it was a pleasure to watch from the sidelines. Against the run of play, Pontefract were able to cross the Selby line again to take back the lead at 10-17.

However, this did not last long as a well worked try was in the making as Selby stuck at it and again, a combination of forwards and backs gaining metre after metre which was a running theme all afternoon. This time with Shepherd going over the line and Bramley to convert making the scores level again.

Time was ticking and Selby were able to keep the pressure on, playing mostly in the Pontefract half but a mistake buy Selby allowed Pontefract to play wide and make a run for the Selby line. Exceptional cover by the Selby backs stopped Pontefract from going over the line but put Selby deep in defensive territory and again statistically gave away a kick able penalty, which Pontefract duly took making the score 17-20 with around 20 minutes to go until full time.

Things were getting tense, on and off the pitch and the crowd were behind Selby all the way raising the level of anticipation. On the pitch things spilled over and the traditional ‘handbags’ came out for a brief moment resulting in a Pontefract player being shown a yellow card.

Once play resumed, it was Selby only metres away from the Pontefract line that had possession. A quick pass out down the back line allowed Jacob Gabel to make space for a pass to his brother Thomas Gabel to go over in the corner. The unconverted try left the score 22-17 and the watch ticking down.

The game restarted and again both teams played in the middle of the park. Pontefract were clearly frustrated with themselves and after a seatbelt tackle, the referee had little option but to show the 3rd yellow card of the game sending a Pontefract player to the sidelines for 10 minutes.

Selby could not capitalise on this as fitness started to kick in, the team spirit was there but in the end Pontefract continued the hard running and had the better resilience to see the game out with a last minute try that was converted to leave the scores 22-25 at full time.

Selby shown that, when on song, they can match the rest but this one got away on a penalty and fitness in the end.