Selby 1st’s and 2nd’s travelled along the M62 corridor to Cleckheaton for their first away match of this campaign. We believe it’s over 20 years since Selby and Cleckheaton last played each other.

Cleckheaton kicked off in glorious sunshine with Selby promptly making a mistake from the kick off to gift a scrum to the home team. This set the tone of the first half with mistakes by the young Selby team, gifting Cleckheaton easy possession and easy territory. With more possession than Selby the big Cleckheaton side started to make inroads into Selby’s 22 and on the 15 min mark Cleckheaton bounced over the line for the first score of the day. Conversion missed.

This seemed to galvanise the away team who had to make late changes to the starting lineup due to illness and family issues. With good phases they slowly moved towards the home sides try-line. Good defence by Cleckheaton saw them clear their lines but Selby were camped on the line.

Selby took the lead when quick thinking by Archie Bennett saw an opportunity to intercept a ball from Cleckheaton’s line-out. Wright converted 5 -7 to Selby. 20 mins.

Unfortunately, Selby soon started to make silly mistakes again and this, in turn, enabled Cleckheaton to gain good territory. With a couple of big Centre’s who ran straight and hard given quick possession the Selby defence found it hard to stop and 2 quick easy tries were conceded over the next 10 minutes - Score 17 – 7 .

The pressure was on Selby to hold out until half time to give them a chance to regroup. Unfortunately, a few more mistakes gave possession to Cleckheaton in Selby’s 22 and the home side took advantage to score – conversion missed – 22-7 at half time.

The question on all of Selby’s supporter's minds was, "would this young side regroup and take the game to Cleckheaton or was it going to be more of the same?".

They weren't disappointed. Showing a lot more fight and composure Selby entered the 2nd half showing signs of last week’s performance, maybe they detected some tired legs amongst that large home forward set, but phase after phase they attacked the Cleck line. As they started to tire, the home side lost some composure and the ref intervened after several high tackles were made. With a line-out drive just inside Cleck’s 22, Paul Townend managed to bundle himself over for the first score of the half after 15 mins . Score 22 -14 Wright conversion. The fight back was on !!.

With the tails up and the home side tiring Selby attacked again from inside their half, phase after phase they edged closer to Cleck’s line. A cynical high tackle by the opposition winger stopped a certain try in the corner, with the culprit sent to the bin. Selby’s pressure and fitness told as Broughton went over to make the score 22-21 with Wright converting. 18 mins of the half gone.

A game of tit for tat kicking game then ensued from the kick off. The tiring home side eager to slow play down at every opportunity. With 10 mins to go after another break from their 22 Selby had good possession in Cleckheaton’s 22. Quick hands saw young Noah Athraby dive over the line for his first try in Senior rugby ( I am sure there will be many more ), to put Selby in the lead 22-26. 10 mins left, all to play for.

Disappointingly Selby didn’t quite have the composure to close this game out. More mistakes ultimately let the home side gain good possession and they were camped in Selby’s 22 for the rest of the half. Eventually after good build up play and continuity they managed to put their right wing over for a score in the right hand corner giving the home side the lead 29 -26 converted.

Selby had one last chance to force a win with a kick to the corner and a line-out drive but Clecks heavy pack managed to neutralise the threat and the full time whistle was blown.

The lads will be disappointed in their 1st half performance and at a potential 3 points lost but the way they bounced back from the 1st half to nearly win showed character and resilience. They will hopefully also have learned that making too many mistakes in this league will cost us going forward.

On to this Saturday where we entertain Huddersfield at Sandhill lane. For preview click HERE

If you would like to be a guest reporter at any of our matches please make yourself known to David Everatt or Andy Bennett or email comms@selbyrufc.com