Huddersfield RUFC Triangular Tournament Including Ripon RUFC

Ripon 0 – 20 Keighley

Keighley U11’s continued their winning run with two notable victories despite having to borrow three Huddersfield players due to several regulars being unavailable.

Keighley commenced their campaign against a Ripon side who had conceded over 50 points to Huddersfield. Keighley almost scored from the kick-off when one of their loaned players was tackled short of the line. Keighley rallied and opened the scoring when Ryan Vero scored his first of three tries.

The Keighley forwards dominated the open play with Cameron McIntyre, Connor Holmes, Cameron Collinge and Bradley Akrigg all combining effectively and working very hard to secure good possession for Jonny Tanner to launch the back division where Ryan Vero and Lewis Grey tore holes in the Ripon defence. The three Huddersfield loan players all made significant contributions and when McIntyre broke free he allowed their second row player Connor to cross the line for a try to secure the 20-0 margin.

Huddersfield 7 – 21 Keighley

Keighley now faced stronger opposition, but their forwards continued to work hard in all phases of play with McIntyre, Akrigg and Collinge gaining valuable yards with strong piercing drives. Connor Holmes used his upper body strength to rip ball from the mauls.

This allowed Tanner to launch his back line time and again and Vero and Grey made several impressive breaks and were strongly supported by a loaned Huddersfield player at full back. Vero again opened the scoring but again the conversion went wide. From the restart Keighley forwards moved the ball up-field and Vero offloaded to the loan Full-Back to score, this time Holmes converted and Keighley were dominating a very capable Huddersfield team.

The second half saw Huddersfield raise their game and driving Keighley off the ball, leading to their converted try to make it 7-12. Keighley realised that Huddersfield were committing extra players at the breakdowns and Keighley countered by committing their backs to these phases of play. Nathaniel Davey and Sam Crawley worked hard whenever needed, but Ryan Vero was particularly effective and broke free before being caught several metres from the line. However Keighley’s forwards were determined to capitalise and drove him to the try line to secure the score. Bradley Akrigg obliged with the conversion to make it 7-21 with a minute to go.

Keighley controlled the game from the restart and were never in danger of not achieving a well deserved double victory. It is testament to these players that even with three loan players they have sufficient team morale to play with such confidence and innovation to out play a team of Huddersfield’s quality. Further development on the training field next week should lead to further improvements to maintain the momentum.