Aireborough Under 11's v Keighley Under 11's

Aireborough v Keighley

The inclement arctic type winter weather conditions did little to dampen a depleted Keighley’s enthusiasm or domination in this season-ending encounter.

From the first whistle Keighley posted their intention when their powerful forwards pressed on in a 4 man maul and when an Aireborough player went to ground, Jack Rodbourne was first to seize the opportunity to steal the released ball to force over the line despite the close attention of 3 Aireborough players.
Lennon Curr missed the conversion due in part to the gusting wind which almost turned the ball back on itself.

Aireborough 0 – Keighley 5 – 1 Minute

Aireborough countered strongly but resolute defence from Keighley kept the hosts at bay. However a quickly taken penalty exposed Keighley’s Achilles-heel when lack of focus saw the Aireborough fly-half jink through untroubled to even the score. The conversion scored and Aireborough went ahead.

Aireborough 7 – Keighley 5 – 3 minutes

This jolted Keighley into action and they dominated play for the remainder of the half with firstly Joss McArthur scoring after great individual assertion and then Rodbourne, after some great lineout work from Leon Hobson-Sheriff, adding to his earlier try with Zac Scott and Curr both adding the extra points.

HALF TIME - Aireborough 7 - Keighley 19

From the restart, Freddie Seavers gathered a short bobbling ball then made a searing cross-field run and scrambled over in the left corner for a superb individual try which Scott duly converted.

Aireborough 7 – Keighley 26 – 21 minutes

Keighley’s dominance continued unabated and the power of their pack was too strong for their game but otherwise underpowered opponents. On 24 minutes after good cross-field phases, James Field was forced into touch on 5 metres and from the resulting line-out James Whitcombe’s height advantage told and the Keighley pack drove relentlessly towards the line when master stealer Rodbourne broke free into the corner to increase his tally once more. Curr with Field steadying the ball, such was the power of the wind, converted.

Aireborough 7 – Keighley 33 – 24 minutes

Despite this further set-back, Aireborough pushed forward and won a scrum on 5 metres but when the ball broke free, Curr fumbled on the line allowing an alert Aireborough back to touch down. Conversion made.

Aireborough 14 – Keighley 33 – 26 minutes

Keighley retaliated and again dominated from the re-start with Curr’s long kick pressurising the Aireborough defence. A good scrum from the Keighley pack allowed Seavers to dummy to Field on the wing and he duly accepted the opened gap to touch down for his second of the match. Scott missed the conversion.

Aireborough 14 – Keighley 38 – 29 minutes

While not guilty of complacency, Keighley’s forwards went to sleep on the counter attack and despite making a strong tackle again his much bigger opponent, Captain Bobby Darbyshire’s efforts only served to propel his opponent over the line to once again reduce the deficit. Conversion added.

Aireborough 21 – Keighley 38 – 32 minutes

With the conditions deteriorating, Keighley introduced Daniel Rowe and Alex Feather into the fray and as the Keighley players were making fewer handling errors in the mud they accelerated away from the hosts, scoring 4 unanswered tries in the last 8 minutes from strong outfield play with great efforts from Harry Gould, Aaron Wilson, James Whitcombe (outstanding in both defence and the drive) and Rodbourne once more with Scott, Seavers, Whitcombe and Rodbourne respectively all converting.

FINAL SCORE - Aireborough 21 - Keighley 66

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Keighley Trophy Winners

Backs – Freddie Seavers.

Forwards – James Whitcombe.

Parents Player – Jack Rodbourne.

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Coaches Comments

Nigel Curr
A very good end-of-term performance against very decent opposition. The inclement weather made it hard work for the backs to use the ball and play their natural game but they used the forwards well and capitalised at the break-down and in the mauls.

All in all, a good way to finish a long hard season. Well done to all the boys who have played for KRUFC Under 11’s this season.

Neil Scott
Considering the conditions we played very positive rugby and our forwards in particular adapted well to grind down the opposition by keeping the ball alive with some excellent close, inter-play. Although we conceded 3 tries, they all resulted from mistakes or lack of concentration on our part caused by the cold, wet weather.

Steve Welch
Even though our pack was again depleted, with several key players unavailable, we dominated the contact area for the duration of the game. The work rate of the front row was of a high standard, which should be seen as a marker to be attained next season. The backs attempted to pass the ball about, as we have been working on for some time and given the difficult weather conditions, they did really well. The way in which the boys have attempted to play a more expansive game of rugby over the last few weeks, particularly evident on and since our recent Tour of North Wales when they were playing alternative Welsh Rules has given the coaches a great deal of satisfaction.

GMF – 30/04/12