What a wonderful advert for local rugby. Pontefract narrowly edged their close rivals Selby 20-25 in an absorbing away match in the Regional II NE league as they took control in the final quarter with Liam landing two long-range penalties to nudge them in front and secure victory.

Selby started strongly and, from mounting pressure, predictably went 10-0 up after five minutes, only for speedster Josh Millthorpe to make a timely interception in midfield and race 40 metres to score under the posts.

By now Pontefract were getting into their stride, but made the mistake of losing a scrum put-in five metres out and allowing Selby to score a well-worked try out wide. It looked like the score would remain 15-7 at halftime, but in the last play of the half, carries by Alex Wilson and Jayden Field caused Selby to infringe and, from the resulting penalty, Pontefract had a line-out within sight of the red-zone. Brodie Matthews secured the ball off the top, it was fed along the backs to Lucas Ketteridge coming off his left wing who bisected the Selby centres before delivering a perfectly timed pass to Josh Millthorpe on the outside; from there the outcome was inevitable – he outpaced the cover to score in the corner and then added the extras (as Liam was, by now, in the sin bin for ten minutes). 15-14 at half-time.

Milthorpe hattrick

Fortunes fluctuated in the second half, but it was Selby who broke the deadlock with what the home crowd thought might be the decisive try. But Pontefract had other ideas and camped in the Selby 22 for five minutes, making a series forward drives, with both Potsy and Brodie gaining decent ground, before Liam called for the ball, spun a long pass to Tom Papworth who took the contact before offloading to…guess who? Inevitably our hattrick hero, Josh Milthorpe, allowing him to glide in for an unopposed try. The conversion attempt flew just wide leaving a one-point deficit going into the final quarter of an hour.

Metcalfe’s agony
Anguish followed when it looked like Pontefract would go in front for the first time in the game. Selby ran the ball on halfway, their flyhalf fired a long miss-pass to their right wing who fumbled the ball into the hands of utility back, Linden Metcalfe, who raced clear from 40 metres. Unfortunately, a speculative dive from the solitary Selby cover caused him to spill the ball in the process of scoring. Agony!

Still one point behind going into the final 10 minutes. Thankfully, Pontefract’s pressure and mental dominance caused Selby to infringe within kicking distance and Liam spared Linden’s blushes. His first penalty to take the lead was beautifully struck from just inside the Selby half and he added a final three points with the clock edging into injury time. The final score of 20-25 reflects a tough game between two evenly-matched sides who played hard and were prepared to run with the ball and take chances.

The Club wish Selby the best of luck as they still have the possibility of qualifying for the promotion play-offs. Selby awarded the man-of-the-match to Josh for not only his match-winning hattrick of tries but also for his all-round game, tackling hard and covering in defence. Not sure who the other award went to!