A 19 strong squad headed East to Keighley having been drawn away in the second round of Yorkshire Cup fixtures and produced their best performance of the season, whilst just falling short on the final score the efforts and attitude throughout should leave them feeling proud.

Playing on the artificial pitch proved no barrier and Selby took the game to their hosts from the first whistle, matching their hosts in the forward battle and were quickly camped out in the Keighley half looking for a break.

The hosts managed to hold off the surge and with their first visit to the Selby half found a gap close to a ruck and ran in the first try on 5 minutes, and when converted, the score was 7-0.

An injury to Joe at no 10 led to a reshuffle but the changing of personnel and positions did nothing to stop the Selby momentum, time after time phased possession saw Selby in the Keighley 22 but a mixture of good defence and white line fever saw the Selby boys held up or the ball cleared. The half time whistle blew with no further score and whilst Selby were well ahead in possession statistics, they were behind on the scoreboard.

The introduction of the remaining subs for the second half did not change the pattern as the new boys continued where the starting players left off.

Patience finally paid off after 5 minutes of the second half where more brute force from the forwards took the ball dangerously into the Keighley 22 and swift passing through the backs gave Dan J space to score in the corner and with a difficult conversion missed the arrears were reduced to 7-5.

Selby hoped this was the spark they needed to go on and add more but a handling error from the kick off and some opportunistic play by the Keighley forwards, again exploiting a small gap at the ruck, saw the hosts score again and extend the lead to 12-5.

Selby continued to attack with purpose and similar to the first half pushed the hosts back towards their posts. An altercation saw both teams reduced to 14 players and the hosts were the first to regain their composure to score again on 52 minutes for a 17-5 lead, but Selby were still very much in the contest.

The moment that sealed the match was on 57 minutes when Selby were again deep in the Keighley half, a stolen ball and clearance kick was chased down by the hosts winger and the ball bounced up perfectly for him to catch the ball in his running stride and run 50 meters to score under the posts, the conversion made the score 24-5.

Determined to have something to show for the efforts the Selby boys drove forward once again and after an infringement by the hosts 10 meters form their line, Sam took a quick tap penalty, drew in a man and gave a perfectly timed pass to Zack W to sprint the remaining 5 meters to touch down before the rest of the defence could recover. Again, a tough conversion was missed but Selby had doubled their try tally and trailed 24-10.

Selby continued to build pressure with territory and possession and after been held up over the line, two knock on’s just as the try line was within touching distance and another attempt being forcing the ball into touch they finally scored again. Captain Lawrence managed to drive over with 2 minutes remaining to score a try the forwards phased build ups richly deserved for their efforts and score the last points of the game. The final whilst blew with the score 24-15.

Front rowers, Batsi, Elliott and Euan more than matched their opposite numbers, Josh and Alex S in the second row never stopped looking for work in the pods, Euan H-M, Sam and Lawrence in the back row gave the Keighley forwards a torrid time when they tried to break, Dylan will have made his opposite number have nightmares with his runs from the base of scrums and rucks, Joe at 10 dictating the plays, Danny W and Charlie A in the centres spreading the ball in attack, distracting with off ball running and pushing up into the opponents faces in defence, Mike and Dan J on the wings giving the width in attack also closing down space and drawing players over to match up defensive numbers, Billy sweeping up kicks and taking the ball forward from full back and Connor, Zack W, Zac I and Tom S replicating the work of the starting 15 in the second half it was only by fine margins the game was won.

The match was played in excellent spirit with both teams giving it their all and the 19 Selby players made their manager, coaches, and hopefully parents very proud.

Selby Try Scorer:

Dan J
Zack W
Lawrence

Report by Alex Wright