After been awarded a home walkover in the merit table by Leeds Corinthians, a bare boned Pirates team of 15 travelled to Selby for this hastily arranged fixture. The Pirates kicked off and atter a string of penalties Irish found Nathan McKinnley to open the scoring out wide. 0-5 5 mins. Selby responded well and battered the Pirates line before a big forward picked up at a ruck to score by the posts. 5-5 10 mins. Selby then went wide from a scrum to their pacey winger who linked with a forward to increase the lead. 10-5 12 mins. Pirates took the game to Selby with some hard running from Josh Smith, Rusty and Ryan Bradshaw, but again Selby broke from deep, and their winger went in under the posts. 17-5 25 mins. A great break through the middle by Rusty saw him hauled down under the posts and Chris Keegan was there first to pick up and score his first points for the club, converted by Irish 17-12 36 mins. A Selby kick trough seemed to have been dealt with on the Pirates line and a big pile up ensued with the referee awarding Selby a try and the half time whistle blew with Selby leading 24-12.
The 2nd half started with a period of Selby attack and despite some strong defence Selby went in at the corner. 29-12 43 mins. Selby looked to be getting on top when another break through the middle led to a converted try under the posts. 36-12 52 mins. However, the Pirates had other ideas and after a long period of pressure forced a 5m lineout. Seran Glasswell found Ryan Bradshaw and Herbie Milton forced his way over from close range. 36-17 70 mins. More Pirates pressure saw Chris Keegan take a quick tap penalty and force his way over from close range to make the final score Selby 36 Pirates 24.
A good performance by a scratch side with thanks to Ben Kernoghan and Chris Keegan for playing out of position and Selby for lending us some players.