Keighley Under 10’s Double Up!

Keighley Squad
Jack Rodbourne
Aaron Wilson
Joss McArthur
Lennon Curr
James Whitcombe
Will Halliday
Bobby Derbyshire
Jaydon Emmott
Keir Welch
Joseph Myers
Soel Counsell
Tom Richardson
Austin Flaherty

GAME 2

The second game saw Keighley pick up from where they left off against a stronger 2nd Ilkley Under 10’s team.
This game highlighted some fantastic tackling from the diminutive Soel Counsell who seems to be fearless in the tackle against any sized opponent.
Again strong interlinking play saw the Keighley backs spraying the ball at will along the line with particularly impressive play between Keir Welch, Will Halliday and Lennon Curr which allowed Zac Scott in to add further to his total for the day. 0-1
The second try came soon as a result of great play from Lennon Curr, Keir Welch, Zac Scott and Soel Counsell with the latter going over in the corner to score. 0-2
The strong Keighley pack held the Ilkley line throughout the day and the second game highlighted James Whitcombe's strong all round play which led to Keighley dominating and Keighley’s scoring their 3rd, 4th and 5th Tries in quick succession!
Having gone 5 Tries to Nil behind, Ilkley managed to pull one back again straight from the kick off where once more as in the first game, Keighley stood off out of the tackle zone which allowed Ilkley to make it 1-5.
The Keighley side however finished the first half off by far the stronger with one further try when James Whitcombe backed up throughout by strong support from his fellow forwards Harvey Bird and Joss McArthur powered over for his fourth of the game.

HALF TIME - Ilkley 5 – Keighley 30

Excellent hands again straight after the re-start from the backs saw Aaron Wilson steal in for another great try to make it 1-7 to Keighley.

Jayden Emmott and Zac Scott showed excellent feet throughout the game and this was backed up by relentless scrumming from Keighley’s packs made up of Joss McArthur, James Whitcombe, Harvey Bird, Jack Rodbourne, with Tom Richardson and Joseph Myers in support. James Whitcombe’s determination saw him over for another to extend the Keighley teams’ lead to 8 Tries to 1 and their complete domination in the scrum led to the 9th with James Whitcombe bursting away - again the try scorer!

Will Halliday finished an excellent day’s rugby, scoring a try worthy of the whole team’s performance with a great drive from the middle of the field cutting in and out of the opposition line to drive over for the final try and complete a great all-round performance for the Keighley outfit.

FINAL SCORE – Ilkley 5 – Keighley 50

Try Scorers: - Zac Scott, Soel Counsell, James Whitcombe (6), Aaron Wilson and Will Halliday.

Coaches Comments
“We asked our team to secure ball in the rucks and then for the half-back pair to use quick ball through the hands to create space for the centres and wingers to run on to” said Coach Steve Welch. “This they did with great assurance today” he added. “This allowed our back line to run at space which then made it extremely difficult for the Ilkley defence to cope with. The whole team contributed towards what was a dominant win today” he concluded.
“We played some tight compact rugby today on a hard track which meant that we could get the ball moving from our 9 and 10 quickly to get our backs moving” added Coach Nigel Curr. “Our pack dominated at the breakdown and we took the game to them every opportunity”
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Keighley Trophy Winners

Forwards - Joss McArthur

Backs - Shared between Will Halliday and Lennon Curr

Outstanding Player - James Whitcombe