A RUN of six wins in seven games has thrust in-form Selby RUFC into the top five in Yorkshire Two.

The Swans’ left it late on Saturday as they needed a penalty from fly-half Josh Cruise nine minutes into injury time to snatch a 22-20 triumph at Ripon.

Their hosts still had another chance to win the game five minutes later, but their penalty attempt was wide of the mark.

Selby had started superbly, kicking off and then turning the ball over for Cruise to touchdown and convert for a 7-0 lead after only 40 seconds.

Ripon equalised on 25 minutes through second row Dave Ellis’ try and a Scott McAra conversion.

The hosts led two minutes later when some slack tackling ended with hooker Matthew Box scoring and fly-half McAra adding the extras for a 14-7 half-time advantage.

Selby again struck within 40 seconds of the kick off, centre Alex Webster finishing the move off for his 11th try of the season.

Cruise’s conversion hit a post and the home side kicked a penalty to go 17-12 up before Selby were reduced to 14 men after a long hold-up for a head injury to prop Duncan Hardy.

Two minutes into stoppage time Cruise scored under the posts and converted for a 19-17 lead.

McAra kicked an excellent penalty five minutes later, only for Cruise to land the crucial blow for the visitors.

There was also a frantic finale for Malton & Norton as they were pegged back in a 30-30 draw at Morpeth in North One East.

The Ryedale side should have had the five points in the bag long before the closing minutes as they led 30-20 with five minutes remaining.

Morpeth responded with a try and then won a penalty out of range, only for dissent from a Malton player to prompt the referee to advance play ten metres, allowing the hosts to snatch a draw.

Morpeth opened the scoring in the fourth minute when Malton were penalised for holding on after a tackle, fly-half Mathew Jinks bagging the first of his six penalties. Ali Heard levelled for Malton, but winger Ben Hornby raced over in the corner for an unconverted Morpeth try.

On 17 minutes, Heard and hooker Alex Whittaker combined to send wing Tom Newitt speeding over. Heard added the extras. Jinks and Heard swapped penalties and Malt led 13-11 at the break.

The visitors scored straight from the restart, fly-half Chris Creber and full-back Ian Cooke creating a try for winger Josh Saunders which Heard converted.

However, they let Morpeth off the hook by conceding three penalties in quick succession and Jinks took advantage each time to level the scores at 20-20.

With ten minutes remaining centre Ryan Lonsdale opened a hole for flanker Sam Triffitt to cross for Malt and soon afterwards Heard kicked ahead and Saunders galloped over from 40 metres out.

Poor tackling allowed Morpeth full-back Joe Simms to cross in the corner and Jinks converted before kicking the late penalty to secure a draw. Heard missed a tricky attempt at the death.