Hartlepool 15 Ilkley 25

ILKLEY’S first visit to West Hartlepool proved to be well worth the journey as the Dalesmen recorded their away first win of the season.

The 25-15 was enough to move the side to its highest-ever position in league rugby, a comfortable sixth place in North One East.

Ilkley’s catalogue of injuries meant there was no Stuart Vincent, Ryan Cooper or Craig Barker, but Rupert Garland made his first start at No 8, with Jimmy Henry making his at full-back.

The visitors had to weather a solid start by West, as their heavy pack caused a good few problems. Stu Waites kicked his side into a 3-0 lead when Ilkley pulled down a maul on half-way.

The Ilkley pack were under pressure in the set pieces and it was no surprise when West opted for a scrum when Ilkley were penalised again. Thankfully, they were up to the test and cleared their lines.

Ilkley were clearly boosted by the let off and a fine maul and drive initiated by Tom Collard saw J-H Johnson come into the line at pace and make good ground. When he was halted, the Dalesmen won the resulting ruck and a long pass found Ben Magee who touched down close enough to the posts to make Josh Kimber’s conversion a formality.

This stung West into action and a misfield from the kick-off turned into a penalty, then a line-out and finally a rolling maul from which West skipper Dan Boatman broke to score in the corner.

Ilkley returned to the attack and Kimber added another three points when a promising move was halted by a deliberate knock-on.

The kick-off resulted in yet another error, followed by a brawl which ended with Ilkley’s Will Coates and West’s Chris Atkins being given yellow cards.

Their absences went unnoticed, but when both men returned, West’s Sam Miller held on to the ball too long and Kimber had another chance to increase the lead. Unfortunately for Ilkley, the kick was pulled wide.

West then turned up the heat, switching play from right to left and when Ilkley finally ran out of numbers, centre Liam Bailey was on hand to take the scoring pass, the try being well converted by Waites to give West a 15-10 lead.

Ilkley’s response could not have been more positive, as they broke out of defence with great panache. The ball eventually was spun out to Magee, whose pace was enough to

beat two men. He drew the last defender before giving a scoring pass to skipper Alastair Monks. Kimber added the extras to make it 17-15 at half-time.

The second half started with Ilkley again breaking out of defence and when West were penalised, Collard’s quick penalty enabled centre Steve Nolson an easy jog to the line.

With Ilkley 22-15 ahead, the game became scrappy, though Ilkley had gained the ascendency and never lost it. West’s Coates was yellow-carded and Ilkley’s Charlie Davy went off with an injured shoulder, to be replaced by James Colclough.

Waites missed another penalty and then West’s full-back Luke Mallinson was carded for tackling Henry in the air.

Down to 13 men, West did well to hold out and both sides came close to scoring, first when West’s Matt Tyers made 40 metres but ran out of support and then my Ilkley’s Magee being bundled into touch after picking up a loose ball.

Ilkley’s superiority finally told though when Kimber’s last kick at goal gave Ilkley the 25-10 win that denied their hosts a bonus point.

Next for Ilkley is an away trip to bottom team Horden on Saturday. A win would be very acceptable for the Dalesmen, whose confidence is growing with every match.