Ilkley 24 Horden 14

THIS match had been billed by coach Rhys Morgan as a potential banana skin. He wasn’t far wrong.

Horden arrived at fortress Stacks Field with minus three points, no wins but a bagful of guts, tenacity, a big pack and some young talent in the backs.

In recent times they have picked themselves off the floor, brought back a few of the players who had been lured away by their monied neighbours and moulded themselves into a side not to be taken lightly.

What is more, they are a community club with a real heart in an economically challenged part of the world.

The groundstaff had worked hard to get the pitch into a much better state than could have been expected and a healthy crowd gathered to witness the lambs coming to the slaughter.

Well, the size of the Horden pack said much about the challenge facing the Dalesmen. The claggy, greasy, cold and wet conditions were not conducive to Ilkley’s open game, but to justify their lofty league position they need to be masters of every weather condition.

The conditions and the aggression of their opponents conspired to deliver a first quarter of uninspiring rugby, liberally smattered with poor passing, squandered lineouts, a scrum under severe pressure and a few heart stopping moments when the Ilkley line, then the visitors’ line was threatened but neither breached.

It looked increasingly as though a moment of genius would be required to break the stalemate. It came after an Ilkley scrum had been turned over on the visitors’ ten-metre line. The Horden scrum was secured but a clearance kick went out on the full.

The Ilkley line-out yielded a penalty. Tom Collard saw a space and darted up to the line. He was felled just short but young lock James Colclough was on hand to grab the score. Josh Kimber converted for a 7-0 lead.

The Dalesmen were on their way, or so it seemed. Ilkley were fortunate to avoid an immediate response as Horden’s drive to the line was penalised.

The sublime talents of fly half Kimber took Ilkley back into the visitors’ 22. His pinpoint pass found flier Paul Petchey with a couple of feet of space. That is all he needs to show his pace for a try which Kimber converted.

This should have triggered the scoring fest the crowd was expecting. Disappointment ensued as Horden went off script. Referee Wolstenholme gave skipper Stuart Vincent a clear warning about the tactics of the Ilkley back row.

Two penalties later and Horden had a penalty try with the conversion under the posts. Horden were in the ascendancy but couldn’t hold the crucial passes. Kimber broke out but his pass to Alastair Monks was knocked away by Horden defenders.

Then young tyro Will Coates was shown yellow as Wolstenholme’s patience was tested once too often.

Half-time came as something of a blessing and coach Morgan’s exhortations were expected to produce a better second half.

Actually they seemed to find stony ground.The second half was much of the same.

Vincent led the early charge which produced a penalty. Sensibly the choice was to take a relatively straight forward pot at goal. It went just wide, leaving the one score between the sides.

More Ilkley pressure followed with almost every player involved before the ball reached winger Petchey.

He was stopped short of the line but Colclough was again in support to bag his brace.

The bonus-point try was the next target. This came from halfway and involved all the backs as the ball was fizzed out to Vincent. He had the pace and guile to sprint in at the corner.

Morgan sent on big James Spencer and reliable prop John Cooksey.

A Horden scrum was well won. At last they put together a set of passes that found Jack McCallum on an unstoppable burst. It was 24-14 and game back on.

Ben Magee entered the fray and his exuberance and strength was immediately apparent but Horden’s defence was solid.

Both sides flattered to deceive and neither line was breached in the final 15 minutes.

It became a drudge in the mud and the final blast from Mr Wolstenholme came as some respite for the supporters.