Burley II XV Versus Selby IV XV
8th March 2008
1 Pete Shaw 2 Julian Broster 3 Matt Morgan
4 Richard Schmitt 5 Andy Taylor
6 Jim Griffin 7 Elliot Viles 8 Andy Lacey
9 Jonny Baker
10 Tim Betts
11 Kenny Parsons 12 Gavin Leeman 13 Karl Heywood 14 Marcus Peel
15 Paul Wheeler
The Bench
16 Dan Morrell 17 Duncan Elsey 18 Jon Bowskill 19 Andy Harvey 20 Stuart Nichols
Coming off the back of two victories the previous weeks Burley were in good spirits for the game against Selby, the morale was high and you could tell. The pitch was a little muddy in places but wouldn't cause any problems for the Maroon Marauders and neither would Matt Morgan's massive hangover!!
Burley lost the toss and started up the hill. From the kick-off Burley put Selby under constant pressure with good tackling and turnovers galore!! A good move in the first 5 minutes nearly resulted in a try for Burley only for the pass to be judged forwards (this would be the case on a number of occasions during the game). A few minutes later Burley broke the deadlock, from a lineout Richard Schmitt gathered the ball in the air, the maul was formed and a strong drive from the forwards gained a few meters. The ball was gathered up Andy Lacey who gave it Johnny Baker who spread the ball to the backs, the oval finally landing in the hands of Kenny Parsons who out-ran the Selby no13 and touched it down for his first try of the day!
A fantastic move from the backs resulted in Elliot Viles getting the ball in the Selby 22, With two Selby players bearing down on him he shimmied one way, then the other, causing the Selby backs confusion enough to slam into one another whilst Viles touched down for the score. Tim Betts converted to make the score 12-0.
Selby were determined to get back into the game at that point and attempted to run the ball through the Burley defensive line to be met by hits from the returning Jules Broster and team captain Jim Griffin. Thinking that this tactic would work Selby continued only to be fought back time and time again. Burley got the ball back and worked a move that saw Marcus Peel go over for another try. Before half-time the Maroon Marauders added another with Kenny Parsons doing a Linford Christie impression and touching down under the posts to chants of "Scatter" from his team mates. Half time was called soon after, leaving Burley in a very strong position.
During the break Jim Griffin reminded the team that they had a lot of work to do in the 2nd half ending his talk with "Lets give these fellas a f*****g". Sure enough Burley started how they meant to go on with strong tackling, good ball movement. Selby had a chance with their full back running through a couple of tackles and almost going all the way if not for a double team tackle from backs Gav Leeman and Jon Bowskill. A good kick from Tim Betts saw Burley deep in the Selby 22, the ball turned over from the lineout saw a great run from Marcus Peel who charged to the try line a man on his heels he graciously passed to Kenny Parsons who touched down for his Hat-Trick (well done Frank!!). Jules Broster added the extras (who after the game complained he didn't get to tackle enough people). The weather then decided to show its face as it began to rain down on the Burley boys, not bothered by the weather the Maroons continued to put pressure on Selby in the Scrums and Line outs continually turning the ball over for the backs to find the holes in the Selby line. A scrum inside the Selby half saw Jonny Baker put the ball in and a gentle push from the pack made sure the ball was kept in possession and swept out to Marcus who side-stepped his way to touch down for another score.
More sublime play saw Jonny Baker leap over a couple of Selby players to touch down and basically cement the victory for Burley but not to be outdone by Kenny, Marcus Peel despite having 2 men wrapped around him went over in the corner to also secure his Hat-Trick (Nice one Marcus). The last play of the game saw "German Giant" Richard Schmitt catch the ball from the kick-off and go on a monstrous run, which struck horror in the hearts of the Selby players, dodging a few tackles he was brought down and he offloaded to Jules who promptly charged forward and tripped over the big mans head and fell. The Ref blew for Full-Time, Burley came in 50-0 winners (making it 3 wins out of the last 3 games!!).
An enjoyable game all-round for Burley as every player delivered on the day.
P.Shaw