Great win for the Selby 3rds in the North Yorkshire Trophy

Selby’s game plan to move the big Northallerton side around worked straight from the kick off with sharp handling in the backs putting A J Marchant in for try with less than a minute on the clock. Sustained Selby pressure led to two more tries for Ben Bell and Dan White. 15 0 after 15 minutes and a big score looked on.

Unfortunately Selby then got on the wrong side of the referee and Northallerton got their big forwards rumbling forward. Selby were under pressure in the scrums and had some defending to do. Northallerton lost a player to injury and Geoff Barlow kindly stepped up to play for them. Lamb got 10 minutes in the bin for killing a ruck before Northallerton scored a converted try before half time to make it 15 7.

Selby needed a good start to the second half to avoid any jitters and after the forwards set up a good platform more crisp handling put AJ in for his second try. Kev Lamb took a switch ball and accelerated through the gap to power 40 yards for a great try. Captain Spence followed his own instructions to hit Northallerton hard and ran over several players on various occasions. His own try came with the full back rolling like a pin ball as he went straight through him.

Northallerton didn’t give up and scored again after getting the better of the penalty count once more. The champagne moment of the afternoon though came after a great drive by the forwards with Jim Abrams getting held just short of the line but popping the ball to the evergreen Ian Copperwheat to crash over.

Northallerton scored a late consolation try but the game ended a couple of minutes early after Ian Tasker went down with a nasty looking leg injury. Selby had done themselves proud in front of an appreciative crowd. A great team effort with Adam Brown having his best game since his comeback, Ben Bell running hard and straight and Jarrod Dixon bossing the pack. Dan White ruled the lineouts and Levett and Rawson made some strong runs.