W 20-23

By Charlie Hopper

Scarborough made it six league wins in row after putting in a strong defensive performance to beat Selby 23-20 on Saturday.

The home side, who sit near the bottom of the Regional Two North East table, came out of the blocks flying and immediately put pressure on Matty Jones’ side. They took a 3-0 lead in the second minute, after a harsh penalty allowed Henry Wright the opportunity to kick the penalty. Fellow Fly-half Tom Ratcliffe levelled the game 10 minutes later with a penalty of his own. Scarborough took the lead in the 20^th minute through Tom Harrison. With advantage being played, Harrison collected the ball, saw a gap in the defence and crashed over for 10-3. Selby went in search of a try of their own and found it in the 26^th minute. A dangerous cross field kick from Wright was collected by the winger, he raced down the wing before offloading to Harrison Green and the second row crossed over for 10-10. Ratcliffe was called into action after the half hour mark with another penalty to restore his sides advantage going into half-time.

The second half started in quick fashion with Scarborough wasting no time in extending their lead further. Joe Davies came close before the overlap presented itself out wide and captain Drew Govier scored. Tom Harrison, kicking in place of Ratcliffe, added the extras for 20-10. Both teams then exchanged penalties for 23-13 before Selby piled on the pressure as the game headed into the final 10 minutes. In the 75^th minute, Will Rennard was shown the first yellow card for bringing the maul down and the referee awarded the home side a penalty try. Heading into overtime, the Sandhill Lane outfit were awarded a penalty and the chance to kick for the corner. Wright stepped up but placed his kick too long and the referee blew the whistle to round of an excellent game of rugby.

With the gap now down to two points with leaders Moortown, Scarborough return to Silver Royd on Saturday as they welcome a struggling Bradford & Bingley.