Ilkley Win The Aire Wharfe Cup!

This Final clash was set for an exciting evening with the home side having lost only one

league game out of 20 all season, a formidable achievement, against an Ilkley 2^nd  XV having had an indifferent season but finishing with a good away win at York.

Yarnbury's 4G pitch was immaculate as both sides lined up on a cool May evening. 

Yarnbury immediately seized the initiative with their elusive centre sidestepping his way through a startled Ilkley defence to put his team up 7 - 0 within 5 minutes. Ilkley came back after settling down  to score an unconverted try, 7 - 7.

Yarnbury attacked strongly once more for a converted try to go ahead 14 - 7. The Yarnbury supporters were providing great vocal support and their side looked menacing.

However, Ilkley managed to respond and claw back a converted try to draw level at 14 - 14.

With half time looming it seemed Ilkley might take the lead. However, their tackling had not been good and Yarnbury pounced to expose this fragility to score 2 converted tries and a penalty on half time to leave Ilkley with a mountain to climb with a deserved lead of of 31 - 14.

Ilkley's half time talk by their coaches obviously had an effect and they were soon back to 31 - 28 down with a noticeable improvement on defence. Despite an improvement in their attack Yarnbury were unable to prevent a determined Ilkley side clawing their way back to take the lead and power on to a final score of Yarnbury 40 - Ilkley 50.

This was an excellent match on the night in which two good sides tested each other all the way and provided an exciting conclusion to the 2026 Aire - Wharfe Cup 2026.