Hornsea RUFC Colts (Under-17s) narrowly lost in an exciting encounter, making the journey to West Yorkshire to play Keighley RUFC and further strengthen their position in the top two in the RUFC Northern League.
The weather was perfect for an open and exciting game of rugby, and the match didn’t disappoint.
Hornsea RUFC took possession from the kick-off and applied pressure from the first whistle, with some big runs down the middle of the field followed by slick hands in the backs, which forced scrambling defence from Keighley. However, an error from Hornsea led to a dropped ball, and the home team capitalised by running through a gap to score under the posts. After a successful conversion, Keighley went up 7-0.
The visitors didn’t put their heads down. A direct run from W Ostler took full advantage of some initial weak tackling to open up the defence, and after some strong hand-offs, he ran half the pitch to score for Hornsea. The conversion levelled the score at 7-7.
Hornsea then increased the intensity, with powerful forward runs allowing flanker M Naylor to crash through the defence and cross the whitewash. The lead was short-lived, as Keighley responded to take the lead 14–12, followed by a powerful run and offload to widen the gap to 21–12. Hornsea didn’t give up, with the forwards battling to lay the foundations for T Jebson to slice through the defence and narrow the scoreline to 21-17.
After prolonged pressure on Keighley’s try line, Hornsea took the lead for the first time when prop forward A Richardson crashed over, making it 26-24 at half-time.
The second half resumed with the same intensity and physicality. Hornsea narrowly missed scoring again because of a last-minute ankle tap by Keighley’s full-back and a disallowed try over the line. However, they defended strongly, with excellent cover tackles from A Topham, J Mooney and T Creswell in the backs keeping the home team from scoring. Hornsea then scored again when backrower A Woolfitt powered over, bringing the score to 26–29.
In the final moments, Keighley managed to crash over in front of the posts, taking the score to 33–29. Hornsea had one last chance with a penalty near the home team’s line, but, needing a try, they had to run it. A mistake on the last play handed the victory to Keighley.
Despite the loss, Hornsea RUFC Colts picked up a bonus point and remain second in the RUFC Northern League.
Coach Zach Jebson was proud of the players despite the loss. He said: “Unfortunately, we didn’t get the result we wanted, and the win was there for the taking, but we are so proud of the players and how they fought right until the final whistle.
“There were some great displays today, and as a team, we are growing in numbers and confidence every week, which is great for both the team and the future of the club as a whole.”
