ANOTHER successful day was played out at Cougar Park on Saturday as the seventh Keighley and District Festival Cup competition was held.

With ten games taking place in total, it was an action packed day.

The first match of the day saw Cougar Cubs Under-8s pacy game result in a win against Guiseley.

Against a powerful Littleborough side, the Under-9s game finished as draw while the Under-10s beat their Littleborough counterparts comfortably.

The Under-11 Cubs side competed well to claim a draw against a determined Clayton side while the Under-12s also put up a strong fight against Queensbury,

Queensbury again provided the opposition for the Under-13s with the latter victorious.

Meanwhile, the Under-14s good run against Dudley Hill continued with a win while the Cubs versus the Cubs Allstars finished with a win for the former - their first in seven years of the competition.

An girls' exhibition match (pictured) also showed there was plenty of scope for the future of girls' rugby in Keighley.

Finally, a superb day of rugby culminated with the Cougar Academy game against SuperLeague giants St Helens.

Cougar Academy 15

St Helens 34

With just over 20 minutes left a try by man of the match colin Pickles, converted by Alistair Beaumont brought the score to 14-16.

The next attack was followe dby an Andy Feather drop goal taking the Cougars to within one-point of St Helens at 151-16 and it looked like a tremendous upset coul dbe on the cards.

But Saints snapped up possession and raced away for a converted try to take a 22-15 lead. The young cougars threw everything at Saints, but were unable to break down a Saints side which included 10 full time players.

As the extra fitness took its toll Saints ran in further tries to secure the clear victory.

Despite the defeat it was the Cougar side's best performance to date.

Saints had taken an early 6-0 lead but an Ali Beaumont penalty made it 6-2. jason fisher crashed over and Beaumont made it 8-6 to keighley.

Saints went back ahead with an unconverted try and on the stroke of half time struck again to secure a 16-8 lead and set up a tremendous second half.

Skipper Matty Steele again led from the front as the boys gave everything.

After the tough grading games the league starts tomorrow (Saturday) when they play Huddersfield Giants at Fartown.

Cougar Cubs Under-14s 12

West Bowling 8

Cubs secured the West Riding championship with a classy win, adding the title to the League Cup and Keighley Cup trophies.

Determination and skill were the key stones of victory with six players from the team representing the Keighley-Bradford district.

West Bowling were the closest rivals int he competition after Cougars had beaten Clayton 30-12 the previous week. Bowling arrived at Utley on the back of a 14-match unbeaten run, but when home with the record shattered.

Tries came from free-scoring centre Adam Wilkinson, who has claimed 36 in the season, and tough tackling winger Anthony Kennedy.

In the end the Cubs won the league by eight points.

"Team work and dedication has been the secret of their success," said coach Peter Bibby.