Ilkley Colts vs Harrogate Colts 1st November Match Report

Ilkley’s colts were back in league action, this time the visitors were Harrogate Colts coached by former Ilkley Captain Stuart Vincent, a team which in the past had inflicted some heavy defeats but recent encounters have been on parity with a win each last season. Ilkley fielded an understrength side thanks to the success of Ilkley players in the recent Yorkshire trials. It’s a shame that county and league committees cannot get together and deconflict these fixtures. Maybe a solution would be to play the league fixtures on a Friday night under lights on these weekends.

These games prove popular with players, clubs and families as they also free up space on Sundays at busy clubs and avoid the situation of referees doing double headers.

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Back to the game which from the onset showed it was to be a war of attrition with both sides trying to force a breach in the excellent defences on display. Ilkley eventually exploited a small gap on the left wing only for the player to be tripped in a moment of panic. Harrogate were reduced to 14 men which allowed Ilkley to eventually exploit the numerical advantage and see Leon dot down the try after a drive from the pack into the right corner.

Jack struck the resulting conversion well and gave Ilkley the 7-0 lead. Ilkley were unable to extract further gain from the absence of the Harrogate wing thanks to some superb defensive organisation. Ilkley’s tenacity at the breakdown the saw Willi able to exploit a gap in the defence and power over the Harrogate 10m line to be eventually stopped on the 22. Harry was on the spot to pick up and carry the drive on able to break free of the now desperate defenders and run in a superlative try from the front row. Jack struck a less convincing conversion that wavered in the air but still carried and gave Ilkley a 14 – 0 lead.

Ilkley concluded the half taking a Harrogate scrum against the head thanks to some quality scrum play by the whole 8 forwards who were at a considerable weight disadvantage. Unfortunately, Ilkley could not convert this to points and the half finished at 14-0

Ilkley started the half poorly and turned over the kick off to see Harrogate send over their number 12 near the right-hand post for a well-deserved try. Unfortunately, the Harrogate kicker was unable to convert leaving the score at 14-5.

Back to the war of attrition where Ilkley were getting the best of the scrums but Harrogate had the edge in the rucks.

This eventually led to Ilkley Ilkleyley’s new flanker Will making a high tackle that saw him sent to the bin for 7mins contemplation. The resulting pressure saw Harrogate expose the lack of defenders and send the left winger in near the corner flag. The resulting conversion was missed leaving Harrogate trailing by 14-10. Restored to 15 Ilkley continued to build the pressure particularly at scrum time where the smaller Ilkley front row worked wonders and eventually were given a penalty after the Harrogate front row stood up once too obtain. Jack was able to stroke over the kick to see Ilkley stretch the lead to 17-10. More pressure from the kick off and a stunning tackle from No 3 Harry on the Harrogate winger led to another penalty, saw Ilkley with a 5m lineout after a good kick from Jack. A sound catch and drive saw Harry crash over for his second try giving Jack the chance to extend the lead to 24-10.

Harrogate were beaten at this point and offered very little resistance in the last few minutes of the game. Their next lineout on the halfway was turned over and the resulting quick ball allowed Tom to break from his own half and score a super try under the posts which was converted 31-10. The resulting kick-off saw Ilkley work their way into the Harrogate half and feed Will Mac who timed his run to perfection and sliced open the Harrogate defence and score another tray from 50m. Jack rounded off a masterclass on place kicking for a final score of 38-10.

The Yorkshire cup comes into play next week with Ilkley away at Middlesbrough a club that has proved to be excellent hosts. Lets hope the young men can take this positive performance on the road and set in place a successful cup run.