Teesside suffered their heaviest defeat in their history on Saturday, going down 66-0 to Selby Warriors. The Steelers struggled to raise a team and were missing 7 first choice players, 3 on holiday, 1 injured and 3 late cry-offs. They took only 14 players which included two 16 year olds in Kane and Catterick who both had good games.
The Steelers struggled to contain the Selby pack, which contained several ex-professional players and were soon trailing 24-0 after 20 minutes. The Steelers did manage to threaten the Warriors line, when after an excellent run from Lowe, Darby put Taylor through only to be pulled back for a forward pass. The Warriors then scored 3 further tries to go into the break leading 40-0.
In the second half the Steelers faired a little better going close to scoring through debutante Catterick, Garside and Taylor. But all was in vain as the Warriors scored another 3 tries and 2 goals to make the score 56-0. Taylor nearly broke the duck for the Steelers when he raced 50 yards after he picked up a loose ball but fell to the Selby cover. This lifted the Steelers and they closed again through Dickenson and Fretwell. But the Warriors had the final say when they scored two further tries to end the game resounding victors, 66-0.
Steelers captain Lloyd Darby said of the Steelers defeat, "We had 3 players making their debut and two more with only a handful of league games under their belt. We really need a few more experienced players in our squad so we can blood the younger players gently".