Selby show how to weather winter conditions (From Craven Herald)

Selby show how to weather winter conditions

10:59am Thursday 26th January 2012 in Skipton

Skipton 8 Selby 22

In the winter months getting the right outcome out of a game of rugby can sometimes be solely attributed to mental attitude and masses of enthusiasm.

These qualities were displayed to a man by Selby who fuelled by the dire to avenge the 25-14 defeat they suffered against Skipton in September, simply had more desire than the Reds.

Skipton aided by a strong wind had the better of the opening salvo, with Alex Naylor giving them a 3-0 lead with a penalty from the left-hand touchline.

However it was Selby that crossed the try line first, as result of their ambitious into-the-wind play.

They engineered space for their only genuine strike runner to hit the line from full back. He created the overlap for an unconverted try.

True to form this galvanised Skipton, and rare quick ball from the contact area was dispatched to the outside channel, and from the subsequent melee on the Selby line, flanker Martin Murray burrowed over for an unconverted try.

The remainder of the first half belonged to Selby who gave a master class in playing rugby into a vicious wind.

They adopted a game plan based on aggressive forward runners coming close to the contact area, with minimal support players effectively and efficiently clearing the Skipton defenders, which enabled wave after wave of attacking play.

Although Skipton combated this play for a period of time, the threat was never truly mitigated due the sin binning of Alex Brazier (the victim of a team warning for numerous off-side infringements), and a high penalty and error count.

Eventually on the last play of the first half Selby took the lead as patience and controlled play resulted in space out wide for an unconverted try, making the half-time score 10-8.

The second half continued in the same vain with Skipton subjected to long periods of defensive work.

They held out for a time before Selby patiently engineered space to register two further tries.

The over commitment of forwards at the breakdown, resulted in the Skipton half backs having limited options, when faced with a well-organised Selby defence.

Yet again centre Jonny Moore shone as the only Skipton player whose tackles always resulted in a defensive win and the returning Naylor brought a much needed combative spirit.