A strong second half of the season meant the boys had qualified for a section final in the Yorkshire Cup and Morley, a team who Selby narrowly lost to in a friendly game earlier in the season, were both the opponents and our hosts.

Joining with the Colts for Thursday training after Christmas has certainly helped with player progression, all the players were much more focussed and committed than in the earlier meeting and were now fully bought into Head Coach, Huw’s, blueprint for how the team should set up, both in attack and defence.

Selby were able to name a very capable squad for the final, with 19 names on the team sheet and more importantly strength and depth.

Straight from the kick off Selby looked to dominate and had Morley pinned in their own half initially and then on their own try line. Following wave after wave of forward pressure it was one of the team’s originals Charlie M who scored the first try on 4 minutes finding a gap his fellow forwards had created to force the ball over the line. Joe converted from in front of the posts and Selby led 0-7.

Selby continued repeating the pressure on the Morley forwards, after a short tussle in the half way line, Connor took a pass from Dylan and ran into a gap in the host’s defence. The flanker made 20 metres before being brought to ground by 3 defenders and with a couple more forward phases the ball was given to the backs and through the hands of Joe, Danny, Elliott, Billy and Dan to Zack and the winger dived over in the opposite corner to where the move started to increase the Selby lead on 8 minutes, Joe converted the difficult kick from the touchline for a 0-14 lead.

The game then became more attritional with the ball staying with the forwards of both sides for the next 10 minutes, Selby remained dominant in possession but knocked on a couple of times when close to their opponent’s try line, all this without their own line being in any danger.

On 22 minutes Selby added to their score, when quick hands when in possession at a ruck on the Morley 10 metre line allowed fellow winger Dan to take advantage of an overlap to get his name on the try scorers list and increase the lead to 0-19.

Further chances came and went for Selby and there was no addition to the score as the half time whistle blew.

The second half saw Selby make use of their capable bench with Tom S, Josh, Zac I and Mike replacing the committed efforts of Alex, Connor, Elloit T and Zack and the changes were seamless as Selby continued to squeeze their opponents into their own 22.

Again, knock on’s close to the Morley line were the only reason the score was not greater as the boys continued to push their opposition further and further back.

It took until the 62nd minute for Selby to score again, the forwards had drawn most of the Morley team with short driving rucks and with assists from Dylan, Joe and Danny, outside centre Elliott H-M finished off another team passing move under the posts and with Sam converting Selby scored their first points of the second half to make the score 0-26.

It was also fitting that the final try of the game was from another Selby original. On 68 minutes Sam took the ball from the base of a ruck on the Morley 22 and broke two tackles to score and when he converted his own try the score read 0-33.

From the kick off Morley finally made it into the Selby 22 and the boys played put the final minutes defending dangerous attacking phases until Batsi stole the ball and kicked it off the pitch to end the game and confirm the Selby victory.

Special mention for head coach Huw who has been with the team from u6, building the foundations with Derek, Andy, Dave adding their time and efforts along the way, and Alex and “Tunners” supporting and at the end being able to witness success after all those years of work.

This team has been built over 10 years, some players have been with it from the start, with others joining along the way and to have a tangible trophy to lift for the journey and experience is thoroughly deserved.

Enjoy the victory all, you have earned it!

Match Summary:

Yorkshire Cup - North America Final
Morley 0-33 Selby (HT 0-19)

Selby Try Scorers:
Charlie M
Zack
Dan J
Elliott H-M
Sam

Conversions:
Joe (2)
Sam (2)