9:00am Thursday 11th February 2010
By Sportsdesk
Skipton welcomed Selby on Saturday in what was always going to be a close and hard-fought encounter.
They started on level terms each with ten points in the lower half of Yorkshire Division One, and so there was a lot at stake.
Selby kicked-off and play alternated back and forth before Skipton were awarded a penalty on the Selby ten metre line.
Jeremy Hargreaves stepped up and struck the ball sweetly to open the scoring for Skipton.
Selby attacked and were awarded a scrum following a knock-on and the powerful Skipton set piece managed to win the ball against the head.
Murray picked up from the base of the scrum, and ran but Skipton hands in the loose gave a penalty away.
Taken quickly by Selby, they were awarded another penalty ten metres further on in kickable range. Fly-half Quinn kicked for the posts, but was short.
Adam Oldfield caught the ball and kicked to clear but the ball was collected by Lunt who counter- attacked and passed the ball down the Selby back line to right-winger Gabel.
He managed to race down the touchline and score in the corner. A good conversion from Quinn added the extra points to make a 7-3 scoreline.
Skipton then took the game to Selby and attacked. After ten minutes of pressure, they were awarded a penalty on the Selby ten metre line again. However, this time Hargreaves missed the left post by a couple of metres.
Skipton maintained the pressure and referee Richard Downing showed a yellow card to Selby centre Spencer for not rolling away from the tackle when Skipton had an attacking position a few metres from the try line.
Hargreaves kicked the penalty for 7-6.
Pressure continued with a wonderful counter-attack after the forwards had turned over possession from a ruck. The ball was passed out to Jon Richards and Darren Howson came up into the back line and chipped over the winger.
Howson and Hargreaves chased effectively putting pressure on the full-back and Howson got over the line for a try in the corner.
From only a metre inside the touchline, Hargreaves was unable to convert, so the score was 11-7.
As so often happens immediately after a side goes ahead they put themselves under pressure.
Selby won their own line-out and passed down the back line to the left wing, where some excellent support play from scrum-half Dovey saw him cross the line for an unconverted try making it 12-11 to Selby at half-time.
The second-half saw Luke Mellin replace John Grayston in the front row and a few minutes later Ryan Binner had to be taken off with a shoulder injury and replaced by Shaun Barraclough.
The third quarter saw no scores but plenty of competitive rugby as both sides struggled to exert their superiority.
Skipton were first to go close when fy-half Andrew Nicholson threaded a kick into the Selby 22 and into touch. Selby had the line-out but a wonderful steal by second row Ric Willsher gave Skipton the ball.
It was passed quickly down the back line, Howson came into the move and raced towards the Selby line.
However, his opposing number raced across and tackled him into touch a couple of metres short.
Selby won their line-out and managed to clear their line with a good clearance kick. When Selby managed to regain possession they attacked. They managed to get the ball out to Gabel, who escaped the tackle and got across the line in the corner. Quinn failed to convert, so it was 17-11.
Lee Shaw was replaced by Atkinson, and Skipton took the game to Selby. Another attack saw some lovely passing from the Skipton backs and they got within a few metres of the try line, but hands in the ruck gave Selby a penalty to relieve the pressure.
Skipton continued the attack and the Skipton backs inter-played nicely and Richards and Howson combined to escape the Selby defence. Back row Matt Speres raced up in support, caught the ball and dived for the line but was adjudged to be just inches short.
Skipton won the resultant scrum, the backs attacked again but couldn’t get across the line. However the Selby backs had been off-side, so Skipton were awarded a penalty which Hargreaves converted to give a 17-14 scoreline.
Selby re-started and took play into the Skipton half. After a few minutes of pressure, they won a scrum on the Skipton 22, and a nice pass to sub Weller in the centre saw him crash through and across the line. Quinn converted from under the posts for 24-14.
Skipton had ten minutes to recover and took the game to Selby. The forwards generated possession and the backs attacked.
Atkinson and Hargreaves combined but were stopped before they got to the line.
However, the second attack worked even better, with Speres picking up and racing down the wing to touch down, converted by Hargreaves to narrow the gap to 24-21.
Five minutes remained and Skipton threw everything they had at Selby but the score remained the same.
A very disappointing result for Skipton but the team performance was good and gives optimism for the future. The penalty count was 9-6 in Skipton’s favour, which showed very good discipline, and the set pieces worked well.
The Skipton line-out, in particular Ric Willsher, managed to win as many as five Selby throw-ins - and the scrum managed one against the head, with a young front row improving each week. Skipton’s attacking play was good, but the defence was ultimately what decided the game.
With another game at home on Saturday against Wheatley Hills, Skipton will aim to improve and do seem to play better against better opposition.
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