Powerful Keighley overwhelm plucky Cleckheaton

Keighley Under 9’s v Cleckheaton Under 9’s at KRUFC – 15th November 2009
Team
Jack Rodborne
Harry Gould
James Field
Joe Myers
Tom Richardson
Will Halliday
Aaron Wilson
Zac Scott
Kian Saunders
Lennon Curr
Adam Pedley
Keir Welch

Match Report
Headline
Powerful Keighley overwhelm plucky Cleckheaton
The game started brightly with Keighley immediately putting the Cleckheaton boys under pressure.
After good rucking in midfield Aaron Wilson ran a full 30 yards on the right flank to score the 1st try after only 2 minutes and then the floodgates opened.
From that point on it was all one-way traffic with Cleckheaton putting up a spirited if not over-awed defence.
Keighley took possession on the half way line and after a solid run, James Field powered home for the 2nd try (his first of three) after a short fed pass from Zac Scott.
Great attacking play again in the midfield straight after the re-start led to a scrum on 5 yards which Keighley won and Harry Gould forced his way over for the 3rd try of the half.
With good open play and mixed possession, good carries from both Will Halliday and Lennon Curr left Kian Saunders free to score Keighley’s 4th try on the right after slipping 2 tackles.
Straight from the re-start, Keighley capitalised on slow movement from Cleckheaton with Tom Richardson making several crunching tackles freeing Keir Welch to speed in on the left to score the 5th try within 9 minutes.
After a mere 30 seconds without incident Harry Gould intercepted a dropped Cleckheaton pass, fed to Tom Richardson who duly set up Zac Scott to jink in from the left for Keighley’s 6th of the half.
Both teams swopped possession until Tom Richardson collected a dropped ball passing to Joe Myers who powered on for 20 yards before being forced into left-side touch on the 10 yard line.
From the resulting line-out, Keighley again showed their strength with James Field setting up Zac Scott for his 2nd and Keighley’s 7th try between the posts.
On 10 minutes, Keighley again dominated with their forwards showing their strength and power advantage with James Field feeding Will Halliday who scored again on the left for Keighley’s 8th.
After the re-start, Cleckheaton defended well to stop a superb drive from Keighley but Lennon Curr broke from the pack, racing well down the right flank to score the 9th in the corner – 9 tries in 13 minutes!
A great interception by Zac Scott followed by a storming 40 yard diagonal run saw him eventually run into touch on 10 yards by a great tackle by the Cleckheaton full back.
From the line out James Field fed Joe Myers who in turn flipped the ball right for Jack Rodborne to score Keighley’s 10th of the half.
With 1 minute of the half remaining, Cleckheaton moved the ball well to set up only their second chance of the match but great defence by both Aaron Wilson and Lennon Curr forced the Cleckheaton centre into touch 3 yards to stop what could have been a consolation try.
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The second half started well for Cleckheaton as they came out with more belief, stringing a good number of cross-field passes together. When play broke down, a great defensive tackle by Will Halliday freed James Field on the left to power over for his 2nd and Keighley’s 11th of the match.
Within 2 minutes, Will Halliday with his 2nd try and Zac Scott with his 3rd had extended Keighley’s advantage, both scored on Cleckheatons’ weaker left flank.
13 Tries to Nil – 21 minutes gone!
From the re-start, quick reactions from Lennon Curr and a super interception by Tom Richardson set up Will Halliday to score his 3rd try of the game and Keighley’s 14th.
A weak re-start and slow reaction by Cleckheaton saw the best try of the day with great linking teamwork from Keighley with text book cross field passes from Tom Richardson, Jack Rodborne and Will Halliday freeing Harry Gould to power over with 3 Cleckheaton players holding on to score the 15th try in the right corner.
After standing firm to resist some good play by Cleckheaton in the dying minutes, 2 great tackles from Will Halliday enabled Harry Gould to feed James Field who scored his 3rd and Keighley’s 16th in the left corner.
Now, totally dispirited, Cleckheaton were powerless to prevent a storming run by Tom Richardson who powered over in the right corner to complete the rout in the last play of the game.
Final Score
Keighley 17 – Cleckheaton 0
Scorers
Aaron Wilson, James Field – 3, Harry Gould – 2, Kian Saunders, Keir Welch, Zac Scott – 3, Jack Rodborne,
Will Halliday – 3, Lennon Curr, Tom Richardson.
Despite being totally over-run by a more powerful, mobile Keighley team who demonstrated excellent teamwork and strength in both attack and defence, Cleckheaton put up a spirited defence and didn’t give up.
“We are now looking forward with confidence to the next 4 weeks and 4 games – weather permitting” said a buoyant Team Coach Steve Welch. “This was a great all-round team effort. We have a good squad and a great atmosphere but we are still looking to recruit new players” he added.