RHYS Morgan has been around rugby union for many years and has seen many things.

However, the 47-year-old wore his heart on his sleeve after watching Ilkley's heartbreaking 24-21 defeat at Sheffield last Saturday in SSE North One East.

Ilkley, for whom little seemed to go right after a bright start, were never behind but conceded a try deep into injury time that cost them victory.

"I haven't been as emotional or upset after a game for a long, long time," confessed Ilkley's coach.

"We started off well and scored a try, and maybe we found it too easy in the first 20 minutes.

"But then nothing went our way, and the decisive try came in the sixth minute of injury time and I don't remember any injuries."

One thing that Morgan hopes will work better at home to Rochdale on Saturday are their line-outs as they lost seven of their own throws.

He said: "We cannot allow the opposition to kick into our 22 and then win our line-outs.

"There were a lot of things wrong – the timing of the jumps, the spacing and even the occasional throw – but I am not going to blame any individual.

"The forwards had a meeting on Tuesday night and talked things through before going out to practice line-outs for 40 minutes.

"I don't want to make excuses but if we had the forwards who played together last season this problem would not be happening.

"There are lads playing in the pack at the moment who weren't regulars for even the second team last season, but it will get better, and this weekend we hope to have Pete Small – one of our main line-out men – and Ollie Renton back, plus we hope to get a player registered in time from Leeds Met.

"If we can end the month with ten points from four matches, I will be quite happy."

That will, however, only happen if they get a win and a four-try bonus point this weekend against one of the four teams who are below them.