Resurgent 3rds march on

The short trip to Wetherby on a warm September afternoon was made by the very different Selby 3rd team for the opening round of fixtures in the Merit league and new boys Wetherby 2's looked pumped and ready for the battle.

Coming off the back of a couple of very tough seasons where wins had been hard to come by and led by a new captain Selby got off to the perfect start grinding down their strong opponents before blowing them away with 10 Tries, 6 of which came in the second period where the superior fitness of both backs and forwards on the Selby side really stood out.

A few late call offs and a no show left Selby struggling at one stage but with a quick re jig prior to Kick off and the fact Chris Young brought his kit meant Selby started with the full complement. In a tough opening 10 minutes Wetherby battered the Selby line with constant short balls before throwing it wide but with outstanding defence Selby rebuffed all they had and a spilt ball left Aiden Pearce the simple task of popping a short ball to Alex Hare returning to Rugby after a few season out the simple task of racing down the line to score the opening score. This was to be the nature of the 1st half with the Selby forwards none stop tackling and rucking to eventually spoil the Wetherby momentum and taking advantage of the mistakes that the tiring Wetherby players made. Jarrod Dixon, Jake Ward and Brad Lazenby making the most of their opportunity's to score. Wetherby did get over the line when Selby literally ran out of bodies to defend with as their tactic worked and they following this with another score from the back of a scrum in the department they had dominated in for much of the half.

Lazenby who was having a very good game then looked like he was going to score the try of the season very early on as he danced his way round half the opposition before inexplicably throwing himself to the floor with only the line to get over...

The second half began in much the same vain as Selby rebuffed everything that their strong opposition had but a change in the scrum as Ryan Johnson joined the fray with Andy Smith seemed to level out the scrums and from this Selby never looked back. lean ball from set pieces led to further scores from Hare, Lamb with 2 including a lovely chip and chase after dispossessing the fullback, Potter, Lazenby, with Jake Ward rounding off a superb win. Wetherby did grab a consolation themselves but this was from a mistake
and they hadn't looked like getting on the score sheet in a very one sided half.

With a new management structure in place at the club and a fresh approach where players will be selected on performance and training, this all bodes well for the club as competition for places is already hotting up. The difficulty will be as always to retain a core of players that can be relied upon each week.

Selection will be interesting tonight!!