Keighley Nullify Bees Sting

Keighley Squad
Harvey Bird
Soel Counsell
Lennon Curr
James Field
Austin Flaherty
Joss McArthur
Jack McHugh
Joseph Myers
Thomas Richardson
Jack Rodbourne
Freddie Seavers
Zachary Scott
Keir Welch
Aaron Wilson

Match Reports

Game 1
The game started with a real flurry with Lennon Curr's long range kick-off making touch on the Bees 10m line. Keighley won the ensuing line-out and crafted good ball across the back line, culminating in a slick pop-ball to diminutive winger Soel Counsell to score his first of 3 tries in the 4-Quarter game.

From that point on, Keighley's determined tackling and driving and their power in the rucks, mauls and scrums ensured that the result was never in doubt as they ran in a further 3 tries from Joss McArthur, Counsell and Jack Rodbourne to run out comfortable 26-0 winners of the first game.

FINAL SCORE - Bees 0 - Keighley 26
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Game 2
The second game started as the first finished but resilient Bees defence meant that it took almost 9 minutes to break the deadlock but patient building in controlled play by the Keighley forwards led to a typical steal by Rodbourne, the powerful forward bursting through to score. Curr converted.

With 2 minutes of the half remaining Rodbourne leading the steal count as usual, released the ball to Keir Welch who showed a clean pair of heels to the Bees defence, evading 4 heavy tackle attempts to jink over for the try of the game.

The start of the second half saw Aaron Wilson collect Bees long kick-off ball on Keighley's 5m line and he twisted and jinked all the way to the right corner for a well-deserved try. Zac Scott converted.

Bees didn't lose heart and this set-back only served to inspire and after forcing Keighley to defend on their line Bees eventually forced the ball to ground to narrow the gap.

Keighley continued to build with patience and when Freddie Seavers playing at scrum-half for the first time intercepted a long pass attempt by his Bees counterpart and drove over for his first try for the Club, Keighley were once more in command.

Counsell rounded off a successful morning's rugby for the Keighley running out worthy 29-5 winners.

FINAL SCORE – Bees 5 – Keighley 29
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Coaches Comments
Steve Welch - After two weeks of disappointing, yet tough rugby it was good to get back to winning ways. Bees are always looking to test themselves against us and are always up for the challenge. It was particularly pleasing today as we had Freddie Seavers making his scrum-half debut and quite rightly being the stand out performer. We had two players were making an appearance in unfamiliar positions; - Soel Counsell on the wing and Aaron Wilson at fullback, both players making valuable and confident contributions to the game. Bees gave us a little bit more time on the ball than Harrogate had previously, which allowed our back line to pass the ball away from the contact area without being under as much pressure. This is the most pleasing aspect of the day as it is something Nigel Curr has worked on over the last couple of weeks. The forwards, as always, were in dominant mood; although I believe other teams are catching us up with their intensity in the rucks, mauls and scrums. All in all it was a good day for our boys, and parents, but we still have plenty of things to work on in training.

Nigel Curr – The boys performed very well today against a team that has (unlike ourselves), made it into the Yorkshire Cup. We started well with ball in hand and looked dangerous every time we played the ball across the backs and especially when we reached our speedy wingers. The hard work up front was also good at times but we still need to put more effort into the ruck on our ball. All in all a pleasing display especially when we as Coaches believe that the boys have lost a little focus and performed below par for the past few weeks and we know we can still play better than we have done.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Keighley Trophy Winners

Backs - Lennon Curr.

Forwards - Joss McArthur.

Parents Player - Freddie Seavers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------