Albion Cats returned to action on Sunday and picked up where they left off before Christmas.

From their first attack Keira Burns broke through the cover and skipper Laura Ackroyd was backing up to score under the posts, leaving her with an easy conversion.

Rochdale boasted the Great Britain scrum half in their ranks and although her talent was obvious, Keighley's blanket defence prevented any of her colleagues capitalising on her breaks. The Cats always looked dangerous in possession and a nice passing move ended with Sarah Gatenby racing away from the defence for a fine try, Ackroyd again adding the extras.

A period of slick play allowed Rochdale back into the game and after a period of pressure they were able to score a try in the corner. However, Keighley stepped up a gear and Gatenby soon scored a carbon copy of her first try.

Rochdale began the second half determined to get back into the game, but a fine tackling display, particularly from Janice Shackleton and Jane Lancaster took the fire out of their game. With Angie Pickard and Keira Burns regularly punching holes in the Rochdale defence a big score looked on the cards.

Unfortunately a combination of dropped ball, forward passes and resolute defence prevented any score until late in the game when Ackroyd again crossed. Sarah Cartwright also galloped round a tired looking defence for a typical score. Ackroyd finished with a 100 per cent record with the boot.

Prop Linzi Goodwin had a fine first full game and there were outstanding contributions from all the forwards, notably Angie Pickard, who took the player of the match award.

This Sunday Albion Cats entertain Halifax and a victory would see the Keighley side clinch the Western Conference in its inaugural season.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.