Ilkley Centurions 82 – 3 Harrogate Pythons 2nds A very busy and resplendent Stacks Field greeted Harrogate Pythons as Ilkley hosted a league double header. The conditions were perfect: beautiful sunshine, not a breath of wind, and a pitch that looked like the green baize at the Crucible. The large Harrogate pack didn’t look particularly enthusiastic about proceedings. In fact, with the sun beating down, sun cream appeared far more appropriate than Vaseline. Harrogate started brightly, forcing...

For the first time in the club’s 127-year history, the third team, the Centurions, played a league match. A coach trip up to beautiful Wensleydale. The sunshine greeted the travellers and the vista was spectacular. Not many places can challenge Ilkley on that front, but I’m afraid we have to doff our flat caps on that front. As the farmers were at a critical stage of their season, Ilkley assisted the opposition with players. League rules aside, rugby is a game like no other; brothers and...

Ilkley 12 v Keighley 7 The rain relented to provide the first dry window for what feels like weeks. The pitch was in amazing condition. Fresh from the sponsors team photographs with Mike Picken (Attis), Mike Simms (Cardinal), Joe Widdop (Ripon Ground Care), Mark Hall (Business Waste) and David Shaw (Ilkley Pride) all supporting local youth rugby with a spanking new strip, training tops and bags. The lads ran out as firm underdogs. A scratch side with many absentees, Jacob Smith filled in...