Sandal Cougars 29 Selby 2nds
Sandal Cougars welcomed a Selby side who last season had comfortably beaten the Milnthorpe Green outfit both home and away. This season though, under new skipper Paul Brennan, Sandal are a different proposition, offering pace, tough tackling and a desire to play a fast, expansive style of rugby. Playing down the slope in the first half, Sandal started the stronger with possession and territory and a robust defence from centres Andy Evetts and Alex Seckham. Sandals first points came from great line-out work from Matt Finch allowing the ball into the backs where a set move allowed fly-half Hodson to send Evetts racing through the despairing Selby defence to score under the sticks. Edge converting. A further Edge penalty extended Sandal’s lead to 10-0. From the restart Sandal again mounted their attack and several passages of play with good ball retention allowed Alex Seckham to weave his way to score by the corner flag, again Edge converting. On the stroke of half time after Sandal’s forward had powered their way to the five metre line, the ball was fed on the blind side for Edge to cross in the corner.
Playing up the slope in the second half, Sandal maintained the upper hand with a strong defence coming close to scoring on two occasions. Ill discipline let Selby kick their way into Sandal’s half where quick ball sent Selby in for a try by the posts. The conversion was missed. Sandal regrouped and veteran prop Ian Houseman was introduced to steady the ship. Good rucking in the opposition half presented quick ball for Evetts again to show electrifying pace rounding defenders to score form 50 metres out. Hodson converting to seal what spectators described as the best second team performance at Sandal for many a year.
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