Horden 20 Ilkley 63

ILKLEY’S gradual march up the North One East table continued with a substantial second away win at bottom-placed Horden.

While their hosts were able to put the wind up the Dalesmen for the first quarter of the game, at one stage leading by 15-3, clinical finishing by the Ilkley backs saw off the challenge.

A ten-try haul – nine of which were scored by the backs – is a feat that coach Rhys Morgan can be proud of and once the Ilkley pack had reached parity with their much larger opponents, the result was never in doubt.

The Ilkley forwards were noticeably fitter than Horden’s and this yielded dividends as the home forwards tired.

Josh Kimber’s second penalty attempt put Ilkley 3-0 up after ten minutes, but then a line-out was lost and Horden countered, full-back David Heckles collecting his own chip ahead and stand-off Andrew Turner slotting the conversion.

Ilkley were struggling in the scrums and conceded a penalty that Turner duly converted and then they suffered further as a dearth of possession enabled Horden to attack almost at will. It came as no surprise when left-wing Michael Turner took a long pass and went over in the corner.

Ilkley suddenly discovered themselves and a three-try blitz changed the complexion of the game. First of all, Ben Magee scorched over for his first of the afternoon from broken play.

This was followed swiftly by J-H Johnson battling his way over on the right wing after good work by Magee and then a break-out from their own 22 allowed Steve Nolson the chance to make 40 metres before passing inside to the supporting Kimber. Stand-off Kimber converted two of these and Ilkley led at the break, 22-15.

The second half started with a Horden try by right wing Ross Brymer, when the Ilkley defence failed to deal with massive No 8 Paul James but with the conversion missed, that was the end of the home side’s scoring.

With the Horden pack visibly wilting, much more possession came Ilkley’s way and centre Nolson finished off a good move straight from the kick-off. Then a Kimber penalty found touch 10m from the home goal-line and from the resulting catch and drive, Chris Chapman emerged from the pile of bodies.

Ilkley were now 34-20 up and turned up the pressure with some exhibition rugby. Tom Collard’s beautiful pass between his legs enabled the ball to be spun out to Magee on the halfway line and the young wing scored an excellent individual try.

Magee contributed to Ilkley’s next try, feeding Johnson for his second after Jon Hutchinson had stolen the ball. Magee then touched down for his hat-trick following a quick tap by Collard. With Kimber’s boot also contributing, Ilkley were now 53-20 up.

With all three replacements on and Jimmy Henry moving to stand-off, there remained just two more tries, the first by Ricky Palacio on the right wing, set up by good work from Tom Baxter, and the second by Paul Petchey, making a welcome return.

Ilkley are fortunate to have depths of talent in their back division and showed exactly what they can do, given the possession. Unfortunately, it’s not the same story with the forwards, where injuries have decimated numbers.

Sitting comfortably in fifth place is a commendable achievement with such a catalogue of injuries. Next up is a home game against Alnwick.