Keighley 19 - 14 North Ribblesdale

Keighley 19 – North Ribblesdale 14

Keighley fought back against a well organised North Ribblesdale side to secure another thrilling victory.

Both teams played well in the first half and Keighley’s forwards faced stiff opposition in all phases of play, and when Keighley were able to move the ball through their back division North Ribblesdale tackled well.

North Ribblesdale scored the first try and converted it to take a 0-7 lead. Despite determined defence of their line the visitors then crossed for a second converted try.

Keighley responded with strong forward drives with Connor Holmes and BradleyAkrigg working very effectively, before the hard work of Ryan Vero and Billy Todd led to a try for Todd. Unfortunately Keighley missed the conversion.

Restarting the second half trailing 5-14 Keighley showed determination and invention from the start. All the forwards raised their game and Jobe Saint and Cameron Collinge started to punch holes in the visitors defence. Holmes, Todd and Akrigg continued to work hard to secure quality second phase ball and Jonny Tanner launched the back line, with Vero and Lewis Grey working hard to breach the strong tackling of North Ribblesdale. Ben Farrar, Phoebe Welch and Sam Crawley provided excellent support in attack and tackled ferociously. Keighley were able to gain the momentum when Vero broke tackles to score and the conversion closed the gap.

Keighley now had the upper hand and strong determined driving in the loose saw the forwards advance up field before Bradley Akrigg broke free and made valuable ground. He was tackled 10 metres from the line, but stayed on his feet and at the third attempt gave an excellent pass to Vero in support to put him in for the try with one minute remaining. The conversion sealed an excellent performance from every player on the pitch to give Keighley another victory, with the hard working Todd earning Man of The Match.