Top effort

In only their second game since the great snows of 2010 Keighley took on the giant Old Rishworthians.
The first 10 minutes were marked by some titanic tackling from both sides, Elliot Barker, Billy Marklew and Nick Holdroyd at the forefront for Keighley. During this period most of the game took place in the visitors own half, the deadlock finally being broken by a breakaway try from the giant Rishworthian centre, who ran half the length of the pitch. Instead of folding, Keighley immediately went on the offensive, spending the next five minutes camped inside the Ryshworthian’s 22 metres, unfortunately, they were unable to cross the whitewash, however hard they tried.

After a further frenetic five minutes, where neither side had the upper hand,Old Rishworthians were gifted a try when their tall second row was allowed to catch the ball in a line out and run half the length of the pitch unchallenged. At this time Rishworthians, gained the upper hand leading to a further try by their giant centre.

The second half started as the first half had finished, with the home team scoring a further two unanswered tries, however, Keighley gamely stuck to their task and heeding Marklew’s half time team talk, began to ruck with more success, leading to a fairer share of possession and eventually a well worked try from Connor Taylor.

Unfortunately, despite controlling more of the ball during this period, Keighley were hit by two more breakaway tries against the run of play, this did not dampen the lad’s spirits, and they finally gained another deserved score of their own in the last play of the game when Nick Holroyd sprinted away from the defence to score beneath the posts.

All in all Keighley under thirteens acquitted themselves very well against the far larger Old Rishworthian,s team, never becoming discouraged and putting stacks of effort in until the final whistle. Well done lads!!
Report compiled by Jaan Part.