Page 14 - The Swan CV Edition 4 April 2020

1995 YORKSHIRE SHIELD WINNERS
MATCH REPORTS
Two Try Taff Helps Bring Some Beer Cheer
(Special Report by Paul McGinley (Courtesy of the Selby Times)
Selby put some shine on an otherwise lack-lustre season with a stirring win in the Yorkshire Shield Final.
It may be unlucky for some but the number 13 proved fortunate for Selby as it is their first triumph in this competition since 1982, when, coincidently, Arthur Adamson, brother of Saturday’s skipper Ray, led the Sandhill Lane side to glory with a 15-3 win over Driffield.
And the plaudits came thick and fast for Adamson, the former England and Wakefield player who controlled the game with aplomb and whose assured kicking proved vital to break the spirit of a determined but workman-like Beverley.
Selby desperately wanted good ground for Saturday’s final at York but were instead met by a mire and the driving rain on a foul afternoon never allowed them to dominate as much as they could have done, but victory was all the more sweeter for the adverse conditions.
Selby’s first score came after a quarter of an hour when full back Martin Bramley broke to set up winger Neale ‘Taff’ Smith to sprint in from just outside the 22. Beverley quickly responded and only five minutes later from a penalty move by fly half Girking was fed the ball to dummy over on the blind.
Beverley skipper Steve Girking added a first half penalty to give his side an 8-5 lead, but the half-time chat was about how many Selby would win by as they had the slope to their advantage in the second half.
An early blitz proved the chattering classed right as first, prop Jamie Pocklington and then wingman Andy Holmes crossed for tries in the space of the opening seven minutes of the second half. Adamson added the conversion for the latter try to give his side a 17-8 lead. Beverley threatened to make a go of it when Girking added a penalty to close the score to 17- 11, but Ray Adamson, appreciating a deficiency in the Beverley defence, floated a Garryowen for centre Toby Pemberton to gather and score. Adamson added the conversion to get Selby a decisive 13-point lead and, with five minutes remaining, it was the skipper who supplied Bramley with a superb pass to feed Smith for his second try of the game. Although failing with the conversion attempt Adamson added a penalty in the last minute of the game to bring his personal tally to seven and take Selby to victory.
Beverley gave their supporters some late cheer when number eight, Tim Walker crossed and Girking converted but by then Selby were refreshing the parts where other beers cannot reach with their Heineken triumph.
A fact that backs up Selby’s love of 15 man rugby or champagne rugby is that 89 tries have now come from their backs. But one wonders – although it has paid off in the Shield competition, would a more pragmatic approach be successful in the League competition? Selby came a cropper in the latter part when the winter and spring mud allow one little room to manoeuvre in a free-flowing game. Questions that must be addressed, but there were few people posing questions on Saturday night, apart from ‘whose round is it?’
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