Ilkley Colts Vs Huddersfield Colts 18 Oct 26

Ilkley’s Colts season finally got underway this Sunday after enforced RFU delays and two of Ilkley’s league opponents sadly throwing in the towel prior to the start of the season. Airebronians and Keighley will be sadly missed lets hope the talent in those teams finds a home in senior rugby.

An expectant Huddersfield team arrived at Stacks field ready to carry on their giant killing, having beaten Wharfedale last week. The first 25 mins of the game were attritional as each team battled for supremacy only to find each attack thwarted by sound defence and set piece play. The surprise of the day was the domination of the Ilkley pack in the scrum. An initial eye passed over each pack showed the Ilkley team to be the lighter by some margin. But sound technique demonstrated by all the forwards had the larger Huddersfield pack moving backwards at most scrums. This sapping of energy finally pad off as Ilkley were able to exploit a scrum turnover and release Archie Scarborough over for a fantastic run from his own half for the first try in the left corner.

Strong winds would prove to make kicking difficult, and the conversion just missed, hitting the post. Almost immediately Ilkley were able to get the ball to Oscar who made the most of the spaces opening up in the tiring Huddersfield defence to score from his own 22 under the posts. Reuben was able to open his account with a well struck conversion to take a 12- nil lead. A reeling Huddersfield managed to gain some momentum and drove into the Ilkley 22 only to have the ball turned over by Ilkley’s more mobile pack. A slimmer, fitter, stronger Harry stepped in a gap in the defence and made 25yds before offloading to Tom H who added another 15 yds before being forced into a rare offload that Jacob eagerly accepted and powered over to the right of the posts. A missed conversion left Ilkley with a 19 – Nil half time lead.

The restart saw a gratefully rested Huddersfield pack resort to some one up rugby that saw them eventually cross the Ilkley line for a hard earned try which was not converted 19 – 5. Ilkley responded well from the resulting kick off and were able to work their way withing spitting distance of the try line where, ever vigilant scrum half Archie spotted a tiny gap and flashed over for a try near the left corner. This was well converted by Reuben for a 26-5 lead. The next few minutes saw the game return to the first half trench warfare till Huddersfield looked like they had broken the deadlock. A quick ball out towards the wing saw a player break over the halfway and cross the 10m line only to meet Charles who executed the hit of the day and drove the ball carrier back to his own half.

Both sides worked hard until Ilkley were able to break over the Huddersfield 10m only for the ball carrier to be chopped down by a high tackle. The referee was sighted and produced his yellow card. Ilkley’s lack of game time showed here and instead of capitalising and applying more pressure they tried to throw the ball around and allowed the Huddersfield 14 to take an interception pass on his own 22 and run the length of the pitch for an easy try. Conversion was missed 26-10. Huddersfield restored to full strength created some pressure and capitalised from an unseen knock on close to the Ilkley corner flag to cross for a third and final try that was not converted. Ilkley then regained some of the earlier composure and played the remaining few minutes in the Huddersfield half and ran out 26 – 15 Winners

Overall a satisfying opening match that highlighted some areas for improvement that will surely come with game time and hard work on the training field.