Bradford & Bingley Bees U13’s v Keighley RUFC U13’s @ Bees - Yorkshire Cup 2nd Round

Keighley Squad

Harvey Bird
Oliver Brown
Lennon Curr
Bobby Darbyshire
Alex Feather
James Field
Leon Hobson-Sheriff
Ethan Lawrie
Joss McArthur
Jack McHugh
Nico Mori
Thomas Richardson
Jack Rodbourne
Zachary Scott
Dan Smillie
Luis Spragg
Josh Tenniswood
Keir Welch
Aaron Wilson

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Local Derby Delight

Having comprehensively despatched Old Rishworthians in the 1st Round Keighley entered this derby game having never lost an encounter against ever improving local rivals Bees.

The bright, crisp morning set the scene for what was to be a gruelling encounter with both teams eager to stamp their mark early on. The first 10 minutes or so saw Keighley pushing hard against a determined Bees defence with little side giving ground and trading plays. From a scrum on the 22 the Keighley pack secured the ball against the head and scrum half Keir Welch pinged out to Lennon Curr who’s pass back interchange with centre Zac Scott was gratefully returned; Curr kicked over the advancing Bees defensive line for Josh Tenniswood to seal a try with a move fashioned on the training ground. Curr missed the long range conversion.
Bees 0 – Keighley 5

From that point on, only courageous and resilient defence by Bees kept the Keighley boys away from the line and they rarely made any inroads into the Keighley half. However when they did press forward, the Keighley pack led by Captain Ethan Lawrie with backup from Joss McArthur, Harvey Bird, Jack Rodbourne and Jack McHugh effective denied Bees any space with which to work.

Keighley forced Bees into the final ¼ of the pitch and after last play of the half had been called, a steal from a ruck on Bees 22 allowed speedy winger Tenniswood the chance to blitz Bees defence and add to his personal tally to score between the posts. Curr missed the conversion out wide.
Bees 0 – Keighley 10 – HALF TIME

The Keighley pack continued to dominate the scrum, despite for once not being the biggest and won another against the head on Bees 22. The every busy Welch popped the loose ball to Lawrie who went into contact 5 metres out, fed a sneaky pass to full back Bobby Darbyshire who then gifted Oliver Brown, on at wing for the injured James Field, the opportunity to power over for his first try for the Club. Curr hit the post with his conversion attempt.
Bees 0 – Keighley 15

Despite Bees best intentions, Keighley didn’t give them any space to work the ball and when it did break out, Keighley’s one-up tackling was superb. Keighley pressed again and won turnover ball just inside the Bees half and Curr’s diagonal kick into the 22 was chased down by Darbyshire who pressured Bees full back into nudging the ball closer to Bees line and despite his diminutive size, Darbyshire’s determination and speed gave him the platform to chase down the loose ball and touchdown between the posts. Curr scored the first extra points of the game.
Bees 0 – Keighley 22

With time running down, and the game almost certainly won, Keighley made a number of key positional changes to underline the Coaches ethos of each player being able to play in at least 2 positions. However, the game isn’t won until it’s over and loss of concentration late on by the Keighley forwards gifted Bees a penalty in front of the posts and quick reaction from the Bees pack enabled their centre to break clear and power over for their only score of the match just before the final whistle.
Bees 5 – Keighley 22 – FULL TIME

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Coaches Comments
Fantastic win for our boys, they proved how much winning this fixture meant to them.
It was great to see improvements from all players in all positions; showing improved skills in the areas that we have been working on in training over several weeks.
We denied Bees any the ball limiting their attacks to one try, right at the end after a major rotation of players.
The forwards showed improved determination at the breakdown creating the opportunity for quick, clean ball for our scrum half. With more time on the ball, this allowed him to deliver more accurate and timed passes to either forwards for recycled phases or to the stand-off who distributed the ball through hands with more maturity or put more inventive kicks into space behind the Bees high defensive line. Every forward was involved in open play both in attack and defence. It has to be noted that all tries were scored by backs.
All in all a performance on par with last weeks’ demolition of Sheffield, although a completely different style of game. Players, coaches and parents alike should be proud of the performance. Let's see what the ¼ Final of the Yorkshire Cup brings.
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GMF - 10/11/13