Yorkshire Division One: Selby 18 Bradford Salem 12

BRADFORD Salem are still seeking a first win of the year after they went down 18-12 to basement club Selby in a closely-contested Yorkshire Division One game at Sandhill Lane.

On a chilly afternoon, things looked ominous for Salem as their pack was put under severe pressure in the first scrummage.

However, despite the fact that they were struggling in the set-pieces, Salem somehow managed to weather the storm, although they had to rely on some last-ditch tackling on the blind-side by winger Callum Armstrong.

Nevertheless, Selby were soon back on the offensive and they finally breached Salem’s defences after 14 minutes as swift handling created a try on the right to give the hosts a 5-0 lead.

To make matters worse for Salem, fly half Matt Booth was sent to the sin bin for a late challenge in the build-up, although the visitors were relieved to see Booth’s opposite number Scott Hunt pull the relatively simple conversion wide of the uprights.

After 27 minutes, the home side had an opportunity to extend their advantage but Hunt’s penalty attempt hit a post, which allowed the visitors to clear their line.

Salem were visibly lifted by this unexpected reprieve and, for the first time in the game, they started to put some patterns together.

Then, with just over 30 minutes played and after a good period of retained possession, fast hands in the backs created enough space for speedy winger Ryan Smith to score in the left corner, with Armstrong landing the difficult touchline conversion to put the visitors 7-5 in front.

Four minutes later, Selby took an 8-7 lead courtesy of a Hunt penalty after Salem were caught offside, but as half-time approached it was the Bradford side which seemed to be upping the tempo.

However, the visitors suffered a setback when Selby turned over possession in their own 22 and broke 70 metres downfield.

Although Armstrong managed to gather a testing grubber kick, his decision to try and run the ball from his own line backfired as he was not only caught in possession but also received a yellow card for holding on.

Selby, with a one man advantage, had a great opportunity to score from the ensuing five-metre scrum but some resolute defending from Salem forced an error as the referee blew for half-time.

The potential turning point in the game came within two minutes of the restart when Booth, knowing that Salem were down to 14 men, went for a drop goal in Selby’s 22.

However, referee Liam Taylor (South Yorkshire Society) failed to see that the ball had gone through the uprights and, to rub salt in the wound for Salem, Selby broke 75 metres upfield while their opponents, thinking that they had scored the drop goal, had their backs turned!

This proved to be a massive momentum swing as, instead of going 10-8 ahead, Salem were suddenly defending on their own line.

Selby certainly appeared to be lifted by this let off, and good ball retention by the forwards enabled them to launch a series of attacks deep inside their opponent’s half.

The pressure was always likely to tell and Selby scored two tries in a seven-minute period to give the hosts an 18-7 lead.

To their credit, Salem hit back immediately from the restart as a crunching tackle from No 8 Christian Baines dislodged the ball and blind-side flanker Conor Wood, who was a constant danger, picked up before outpacing the cover defence to score an excellent try to reduce the arrears to 18-12.

At this point the game was very much in the balance but, with a little over five minutes of normal time remaining, Salem’s prospects of victory were dealt a major blow as replacement second-rower Elliott Cousins, on his fiest-team debut, was unlucky to be singled out for a yellow card following a mass brawl, as the visitors were reduced to 14 men for the third time.

With an extra man, Selby went on to close out the game and earn themselves a much-needed win to lift themselves pff the bottom of the table. Salem, on the other hand, had to be content with a losing bonus point.