Dominant Ilkley Secure Victory Over Kendal

Ilkley got the second half of the season away off to a good start with a solid win against a lively Kendal side, the first of what is hoped to be a few doubles, having won the away fixture 24-27 back in September. 

Still not at full strength, missing Magee, Morgan and Harrison, this was a great result for the squad as a whole and fourth spot in the league was maintained. 

Ilkley made a great start and when a promising move was halted by a high tackle, the resultant line out enabled the pack to rumble its way over, Jamie Slator taking the opportunity to touch down and with Louis Anderson kicking the goal, it was 7-0 after just three minutes.  

There was no further score for the next 20 minutes, with both sides probing their opponents’ defences, but Ilkley were giving away rather too many penalties, handing Kendal the advantage and allowing their pack to build up a head of steam. On 25 minutes, the pressure told and after some good ball play, lock Barney Coxon crashed over close to the posts. Evan Moir couldn’t miss and it was 7 apiece. 

Then came the killer blow, in that sweet period just before half time. The whole Ilkley fifteen seemed to combine and set up quality ball for the backs, Anderson and Freddie Clark exchanged passes before the latter dummied his way over for a very classy try, beautifully converted by Anderson. 

Kendal were lucky not to concede again, but some desperate defence kept Ilkley out for the remainder of the half. 

A fired up Ilkley came out of the changing rooms and within five minutes created another gem of a try, started and finished by that old warrior J-H Johnson, who had a stormer of a game. Anderson’s kick hit the upright, but Ilkley’s lead had increased to 19-7. 

The bonus point was secured in curious fashion. A line call to the front seemed to have done the trick with Ollie Ham seemingly scoring in the corner, but Mr.Garland judged the ball to be held up, leading to a drop out from under the posts. This went straight onto the grateful arms of Anderson, who then attempted a drop goal, which whilst straight, barely got off the ground. 

Kendal scrum-half Ollie Rose attempted to trap the ball, but it somehow slid under his foot to go dead. A five metre scrum was awarded and with the Ilkley pack now looking the stronger of the two, Ed Brown had an easy score from close range, Anderson increasing the tally to 26-7. 

To their credit, Kendal didn’t roll over. Although Mr.Garland missed a late tackle on Anderson, his kick ahead was well fielded by Rose, who then broke through the Ilkley defence, allowing replacement George Bloom on the left wing to power his way over for a great try, the conversion missing though. 

With 20 minutes left to play and with conditions deteriorating somewhat, there was rather too much aerial ping-pong on show for running rugby, but the Dalesmen did score a fifth try when replacement Callum Graham made 20m before setting up a ruck 10m from the Kendal posts. 

A textbook passing sequence down the line and some superb backing up by Brown gave the scrum-half his second of the match, again superbly converted by Anderson to complete the scoring for the day. 

Despite not having a settled side, this was a dominant display by Ilkley, especially in the second half. The pack worked together very well and the backs looked comfortable. 

Next week, the final game of 2025 will be at Sandal, with Ilkley hoping to repeat their early season victory. Never an easy trip, but today’s win should put the Dalesmen in good heart and earn them an early Christmas present.

Images courtesy of Peter & Cecile Clark at Ruggerpix. View the full album here.