SEIZE the day was the simple, but blunt, message for Selby RUFC’s Twickenham heroes.

Boy did they go out and grab it.

With a Drybrook side determined to hammer them up front from the very start, the Swans bent but did not break – soaking up the punishment and then hitting their Gloucester-based opponents with an exhilarating display of running rugby as they prevailed 29-25.

They really are a joy to watch, expansive movers of the ball, while combining fantastic off-loads with excellent support running which left Drybrook in tatters all over the pitch.

And it was Dan Porter, a graphic designer by trade, who wrote his own little piece of legend at the home of English rugby.

They were all heroes, of course, but it was full-back Porter, fly-half Josh Cruise, and a set of forwards who refused to buckle in the face of enormous pressure, who bought into the true meaning of carpe diem.

Porter’s two tries came from magnificent moves. The first, which put Selby into the lead for the first time at 8-7 after 22 minutes, effectively changed the game.

Starting from close to their line, as Drybrook’s forwards looked to pin them in their own 22 once again, Ben Lunt opened his shoulders, found a gap, and sprinted down the right-hand touchline.

As the covering defenders came over to swamp him, the winger slipped a perfect pass to the supporting Porter, who stepped past a tackle, and switched on the afterburners as Selby went the length of the field to score.

His second try, which brought breathing space on 46 minutes, was equally breathtaking. Cruise’s long, looping passes had caused problems before and, this time, he caught Porter at full stretch running the diagonal line towards the left corner.

Straining every sinew, the ball stuck in the hands and the full-back celebrated driving in with a celebratory dive which was impressive, if not quite a Chris Ashton swallow.

That Selby had been able to cut the shackles with such fluency was testament to the way their forwards fronted up to the Drybrook challenge.

With the roar of the supporters still in their ears, the Swans spent much of the first ten minutes under severe pressure as the Gloucester outfit dominated in the early scrum and set-pieces.

Their rolling maul, in particular, was a savage weapon – churning yard upon yard and, when Nick Ovens broke the defensive resistance to touch down through a swarm of players after eight minutes, the early signs did not look good.

But Selby gradually reasserted themselves and started to push Drybrook back. They reduced the arrears to 7-3 when Cruise slotted home a penalty from just in front of the posts on the quarter hour mark before Porter’s opening bout of magic put them in front.

Cruise extended that advantage with another kick when Drybrook strayed offside but the West Country outfit replied when Ben Large thumped a drop goal through the uprights from 30 metres.

It was actually incredible that 11-10 was the half-time score as Drybrook’s Andrew Bulumakau was unable to get on the end of his kick through after Martin Protheroe, who otherwise impressed with his hard running, was utterly bewildered by a ball which bounced awkwardly in front of him as he went to claim it in midfield.

Porter’s heroics shortly after the break, and an impressive drop goal from the 26-year-old from just inside the ten-metre line, extended Selby’s lead to 19-10 and, when Cruise smacked another three points through the uprights with just over 20 minutes remaining, head coach Richard Nicholson’s players could have been forgiven for thinking about the walk up the famous Twickenham steps.

Perhaps that was why, from the restart, there was the only truly sloppy piece of play from Selby in the entire match – poor handling giving Drybrook the chance to set up that rolling juggernaut five metres out and rumble along for Neil Morgan to touch down.

Cruise narrowly missed a Jonny Wilkinson-esque penalty attempt, his swipe from fully 50 metres striking the top of the crossbar and landing the wrong side, but the Swans effectively sealed the game when Thomas Treherne’s kick was charged down by an alert Alex Webster with 12 minutes to go on the clock.

The centre gathered his own spoils to score unchallenged, wagging a celebratory finger all the way, as Cruise’s conversion meant Drybrook needed two converted tries just to tie.

Credit to them, however, they did not simply lie down and die. They reduced the arrears with nine minutes left through their, by now, obligatory forward tactics – the try being awarded to Craig Clarke.

But as they pushed everything into one last effort to wrest the Vase from Selby’s firm grasp, the Swans’ defence was immense, only creaking at the very last when Samuel Peaper breached the stout line in consolation as time ran out.

Selby: Dan Porter, Ben Lunt, Alex Webster, Sam Weller, Iain Adamson, Josh Cruise, Josh Greenfield, Andrew Pocklington, Tom Coates, Duncan Hardy, Rob Triffitt, Karim Brown, James Blaymire, Jacob Robinson, Matthew Wood. Replacements: Mark Tanner, Alex Arthur, Charlie McCoy, Brendan Lanaghan, Martin Protheroe, Jack Daniels, Tom Bell.

Drybrook: Treherne, Bulumakau, Fisher, Rugman, Peaper, Large, Moore, Reed, Renton, Ovens, Cottrell, Cowles, Chesters, Price, Jackson. Replacements: Tingle, Clarke, Rawlings, Morgan, Ward, Lee, Day.

Referee: David Procter.