Coach Daz Lynam said his Keighley Amateur Select side could ‘hold their heads high’ after their friendly with Cougars.

While fitness told in the second half, his brave battlers trailed by just six points at half-time.

The 36-0 final scoreline was considerably closer than some previous encounters and Lynam said: “They did brilliantly in the first half. They completed 15 out of 17 sets and in those conditions, that was tremendous.

“They can hold their heads up high. It was a slug-fest and the conditions may have been a leveller but Cougars put over 80 points on a National Conference side early in pre-season.”

There are hopes the fixture can return to being an annual event, with Lynam pleased that the match had ‘built a few bridges’ following the previous decline in relations between Cougars and the district’s amateur clubs.

There was also a boost for Cougars prop Brendon Rawlins, with the amateur side agreeing to donate their ticket money from the match to his testimonial fund.

The Aussie launches his year tonight at Cougar Park (7pm), when former Keighley coach Jason Demetriou is a special guest.