Match report by Tony Burns
Since gaining promotion to Yorkshire division 1 with a win at West Leeds in 2003, Keighley had visited Blue Hill Lane on 6 occasions and lost every game.
Would it be 7th time lucky?
On a cold but bright day West Leeds took the kick off but within a minute Keighley were on the attack deep inside the hosts territory. Having knocked on with the line beckoning, a powerful Keighley scrum put Leeds on the backfoot but determined defence gave them the opportunity to clear to the 22mtr line. After a series of forward drives Keighley were awarded a penalty for a high tackle and Alex Brown, playing at full back rather than his usual fly half position slotted over the kick for 3 points on 6 minutes.
From the restart Keighley were soon back in Leeds territory but superb kick to inside the visitors 22m line relieved the pressure and gave them a throw in 20 metres from the Keighley line. Quick hands took the ball through the backs before Keighley went off their feet at the breakdown giving Leeds an easy 3 points from the penalty.
Whilst Keighley had plenty of possession and territory, a mixture of poor handling and strong defence limited their opportunities and it was Leeds who were next on the score sheet. A penalty for obstruction was kicked deep into the Keighley half and from the line out a combination of good handling and poor Keighley tackling saw Leeds score the first try of the game in the left hand corner, the conversion being missed.
As the half progressed, Keighley continued to have the lions share of territory but the committed home defence limited any scoring opportunities. A strong run by no 10 Fin Meegan ended when the ball was lost in contact. Brown ran the relieving kick back into the oppositions half where foul play at a ruck saw the Leeds scrum half yellow carded for slapping the ball out of Keighley hands.
From the resulting penalty kick and lineout Leeds were again penalized for the same offence on their own line resulting in a 2nd yellow card. With a two man advantage the visitors took the ball wide right before recycling to the centre where a long looping pass from Brown found Meegan out wide. He skillfully evaded the final defender to score Keighley’s first try, converted by Brown for a 10 points to 8 lead.
With a two man advantage Keighley would have expected to put more points on the board before half time, but uncharacteristic handling errors again proved to be their achilles heel, and it was Leeds who scored next. After a fine forward drive by hooker Shaun Minikin, Keighley again knocked forward in contact. From the resulting scrum, West Leeds put in a huge relieving kick from deep within their own half which again crossed the touchline just inside the Keighley 22 giving Leeds the throw in.
Excellent handling and ball retention eventually saw play move into the visitors 22 where West Leeds excellent fly half evaded a series of woefull tackle attempts to score close to the posts, converted for a 15 10 half time lead.
Keighley’s kick off to start the 2nd half didn’t carry 10 metres and from the ensuing scrum Leeds had Keighley on the back foot. Again excellent handling and ball retention put the Keighley defence under pressure leading to a series of penalties, and playing with the advantage the hosts eventually created space for a score in the left hand corner, again the conversion being missed.
With the score at 20 points to 10, were Keighley were staring down the barrel of yet another defeat at West Leeds?
Thankfully for the visitors this would not be the case and they finally started to play the confident and flowing rugby that their supporters have become used to this season. A surging run out of defence by Brown, well supported by Meegan and loose forward Max Wild took the ball deep into the hosts half. Strong support from Whyte, Booker and Kelly took the ball further into the 22 but again a frustrating handling error brought the move to an end. However, from this point Keighley finally upped their game and started to play with greater skill and confidence.
After a period of Leeds pressure they were penalized for holding on and Browns kick found touch on the halfway line. From the throw in an excellent maul created the space for wing forward Oliver Snowdon make a superb break down the right touchline. The ball was recycled through both forwards and backs to the left corner but just as Keighley seemed destined to score the referee quite rightly stopped play for a possible head injury to a Leeds player.
From the ensuing scrum Leeds were penalized, and from a tap penalty the ball soon found No 8 Tom Whyte 5 metres out who drove through the defence to score, ably supported by his open side flanker Snowdon. Browns conversion brought Keighley within 3 points of West Leeds to set up an enthralling final 20 minutes.
Further pressure from Leeds was relieved by an excellent kick from Ben Stead although the Keighley chaser was penalized for a high tackle. However. they stole the Leeds lineout and a superb run from Minikin took the ball back into Leeds territory. The home team managed to clear their lines but Keighley gained a platform on the halfway line, created by Megan’s surge out of defence. Good handling took the ball to centre Shaun Kelly whose superb 40 yard run opened the hosts defence before he offloaded to winger Stead to score under the posts, leaving Brown with a simple conversion for a 24 points to 20 lead.
The introduction of replacements Heys, Uren and speedy winger Sam Blakely created further problems for a visibly tiring Leeds team and within a couple of minutes Keighley took the game out of the home teams reach. A missed penalty kick to touch found Blakely who attacked the Leeds central defence. Two quick phases took the ball to Kelly who once again opened up the defence with a “give and go” before offloading to Snowden who released 2nd row Adam Kemp to score Keighley’s bonus point try under the posts.
Although Leeds had further possession within the visitors 22, they couldn’t find a way through the defence and the only further scoring opportunity came from Keighley.
A fine break from a ruck in his own half by Uren saw him offload to Blakely. He offloaded to second row Kemp but the final pass to hooker Minikin was knocked forward with the line beckoning. Final score West Leeds 20, Keighley 31.
Although this was far from a perfect performance from a somewhat rusty Keighley team playing their first game in 5 weeks, a win at West Leeds is a rarity and something to be celebrated.
Next week Keighley travel to Old Rishworthians for a rearranged game after the initial game was postponed due to a flooded pitch on 4th January