Cats are first champions of the Western Conference Championship after defeating Halifax 28-8 in the driving rain.

Halifax scored first and coped better with the conditions, but Keighley slowly began to exert their superiority. Eventually a typical piece of Sarah Cartwright brilliance created the opening and she outpaced the defence to score from 40 metres.

Skipper Laura Ackroyd forced her way over under the posts, leaving herself with an easy conversion. Loose forward Keira Burns was having a tremendous match and crashed over with four would-be tacklers failing to prevent the try.

Conditions deteriorated further after the break and 'one up' rugby seemed the only way of keeping possession. However Burns' version of this ply was to batter the Halifax line which resulted in two further tries to complete a memorable hat-trick with Ackroyd tagging on one conversion.

Cats were rampant and Cartwright raced 70 metres to clinch the championship.

However, the last word went to Halifax who scored a late try and underlined their position of Conference runners-up.

Keighley once again had a fine performance throughout the team with great displays from Gemma Liddon and Leanne Ludlam, and particularly Sarah Walsh who took the player of the match award.

On Sunday the Cats wrap up their conference programme with a home match against bottom of the table Crosfields before entering the playoffs for a place in the Premier Division.

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