York RUFC recovered from a woeful start to beat Keighley by 34 points to 21 on the excellent synthetic pitch at Utley.
They found themselves 14 points behind in the opening quarter when they gifted the home side possession with poor handling and an interception which left wingman Jack Atkinson held to score under the posts. Fly- half Alex Brown added the conversion and repeated this score when Stuart Inman forced his way over the line to add to York's misery. Teenager Tom Williams came on for the injured Joe Maud and played most of the game replacing a string of York injuries. After 25 minutes Toby Atkin opened the York account with a trademark try which Jon Dawes converted with a fine touchline conversion. York then settled into their normal routine and their speedy backs had Keighley defending desperately before Lewis Hannibal scored in the corner. Dawes converted with another long kick to level the half time scores at 14 points all.
York began the second half strongly and increased their lead after 10 minutes with a good try from Rob Hodges again converted by Dawes who also added a penalty minutes later. York's other teenager Lewis Jackson came on when York picked up a yellow card and their struggle with 14 men was made worse when centre Chris Peace was injured and forced to retire - fortunately in-form Gareth Singleton replaced him. Keighley used their extra man to good advantage and their big pack pounded the York line. Eventually the pressure told and lock James Cunliffe crossed the whitewash. Brown converted to reduce the lead to 3 points. Maud came back on to strengthen the York defence and a great run from Dawes was held up just short of the home line. York got their bonus-point try with minutes remaining when Singleton crossed in the corner and Dawes again converted with an excellent kick. The York full-back was their man of the match with a superb all-round performance in what had been a close affair.