Keighley gain revenge on Old Rishworthian - just!

Keighley 33 Old Rishworthians 29
by Sam Griffin
A good start to the new year for Keighley, a five point victory. However they had to work much harder than expected to overcome a spirited Rishworthians side. Both teams started crisply intent on playing open rugby. It soon became apparent that the home team had the upper hand, dominating nearly all phases of play especially at scrum time. With a more than adequate supply of possession Keighley camped in opposition territory, eventually from a five metre scrum that was in retreat, lively scrum half Nathan Pickles took advantage to score wide out. Although Keighley dominated possession they often chose the kicking option, unfortunately for them the Rishworthian fullback Rangi Kui was in fine form and more than able to make ground with long kicks or some lovely elusive runs. Rishworthian with half backs Sutcliffe and Heseltine making the most of scant possession began to play with more confidence. Their defence was quick and strong and more than able to stop a series of lack lustre Keighley attacks at source. Keighley began to reassert the pressure and took play deep into the Rishworthian half, moving play down the left of the field they looked like scoring, unfortunately it was not to be, the ball fell into the hands of strong Rishworthian centre Chris Robinson who shrugged off a number of weak tackles to race a full fifty yards to score. Once again after squandering a lot of opportunities Keighley put the squeeze on, a charged down pressure kick out of defence was touched down by Keighley’s back rower Max Wild, Alex Brown added the conversion. As the half time whistle approached Keighley were in control, but a loose long pass was picked off by outside half Doug Heseltine who raced through to score, Rangi Kui added the extra points.

At the start of the second half Keighley moved up a gear, the forwards took the direct route and a well taken try for second row stalwart Ed Keighley, converted by Brown. Rishworthians responded well to the early score with some elusive attacking runs from their full back Rangi Kui, the pressure paid dividends gaining a penalty, that Kui converted. A little later some neat play down the touchline from Keighley full back Atkinson and outside half Brown tied up the defence allowing the ball to be moved inside to back rower Shaun Minikin who drove his way over under the posts, converted by Brown. With a reasonable lead and more than their fair share of possession Keighley appeared to lose their concentration which gave the Rishworthian scrum half Sutcliffe the opportunity to break down field, some crisp passing and centre Oli Marshall was over the whitewash, once again Kui converted. Rishworthians at this stage of the match realised that they were in with a chance, a dropped ball from Keighley in midfield was picked up and moved wide, giving excellent full back Kui a well deserved try, he also added the conversion. Time was running out and Keighley were three points adrift, their pressure play was rewarded with a penalty in front of the posts. Instead of the almost certain three points they chose the scrum option, a solid drive from the forwards was rewarded with a try for centre Alfie Seeley, Brown finished the scoring with the convwersion. Next week sees Keighley on the road again, an away game at Wensleydale. KO 2:15pm.