Hornsea carved out an exceptional moral boosting win by 26 points to 55 against Yorkshire 1 side Selby on Easter Saturday.
The Hollisman arrived with only 20 minutes to prepare with a young enthusiastic referee not allowing any additional time before kick- off. This showed as Selby very quickly went two tries up through their very obvious game of picking and going with the occasional offload.
Having only accepted this fixture on Thursday and not knowing that this was the only side Selby were fielding this weekend, Hornsea Chairman Nick O’Mahony was fearing that he had indeed walked his current club into an ambush at a club where he had spent over half his playing career.
However, Hornsea managed to score two tries back and a penalty to go into the break 14-17 points up.
From the first minute of the second half, Hornsea were on top and stayed on top with the visitors scoring 7 tries, Selby only managing to respond with two. The home side simply struggled to cope with the Hornsea quick ball provision and the way in which the very young but capable backs used it.
Hornsea tries came from the excellent Jack Foster with 4, Matty Smallwood and Danny Johnson both enjoyed a brace and Sam Bergen also added a try to go with his 5 conversions. It is fair to say that the backs were outstanding and Selby seemed somewhat shell shocked on what was being thrown at them. Rob Morley was once again very solid at full back.
That said, whilst the names on the score sheet are all from the backline, the hard work needed to be and was done up front with all eight working very hard to supply the ball to scrum half Joe Andrew who used it very well indeed. Once again, Phil Walker made a nuisance of himself all afternoon, Max Easter Minns and Jacob Richardson also had strong runs that caused the North Yorkshire side problems. Gaz Laycock and Harry Sangwin were also very industrious and Liam Cardwell and Tom Walker were thorns all afternoon, defensively.
Selby already fielding players from their senior teams and staring at a loss from a team 3 divisions below them, began to throw some of their first team players on. This simply meant that Hornsea raised their game and kept scoring.
Next week sees a must win league game at Hornsea, it will be a different challenge but if Hornsea can play with even half the go forward of this display, then a win is to be expected.
Speaking after the game Hornsea Chairman Nick O’Mahony said “What a performance. I would be lying if I said that to come here and win does not make me smile. I said before the game there was no pressure and to go out and enjoy it and forget who we were playing. At half time I told them they were in front because they deserved to be and to keep on playing exactly as we were. For once it appears I was listened to. I cannot emphasise enough what a good, worked for win this is”.
Next Saturday sees Knaresborough visit the Rec on VP’s and Ladies Day. A win is a must to ensure a chance at Yorkshire 4 survival.