Ilkley fail to take their chance

Neither side had much in the way of flair or invention to their game. In the words of rugby columnist Brian Moore; “there was a general lack of dynamism of thought and deed” to their play.

This was not about too much kicking, rather that there was a lack of variety, an excess of predictability, and all done slowly.

It was a game that could have been a showpiece to celebrate the presence of 70 or so ex-players who had attended a splendid pre-match lunch. It turned out to be a dreary affair to match the grey skies overhead.

Talking about grey skies, the sizeable crowd, swelled by the returning heroes of yesteryear was conspicuous by the heads of greying hair who chatted affectionately of days gone by when rugby was played for the game alone, not for league status or precious league points or even, dare we say it, for money.

For most of these the ‘brown envelope’ was not even invented. A total of 19 ex-captains graced the clubhouse, all of whom were presented with a memento of their time in office. All enjoyed the occasion, many with considerable emotion to see old friends and playing colleagues.

It was particularly gratifying to see Dr Chris Davidson, 100 years young last week, who played for the club in the 1920s. He justifiably claims to be Ilkley’s oldest ex-player. No one could dispute that claim at least!

When some of these players graced Stacks Field dribbling was a skill, not an ailment. Lifting hadn’t been heard of. Studs were leather. Hamstrings, anterior cruciate ligaments, rotator cuffs and other new-age terms were all called injuries. Balls had bladders and a try was worth three points, the same as a drop goal.

By kick-off time the gathered audience was just about ready to don their playing kit and show these Dalesmen of 2010 how it should be done. Of course the game has changed over the years. The young men who play today in the Ilkley jersey are still, thankfully, of the amateur variety but they have skill levels and fitness of a high standard thanks to the science that has been introduced to coaching methods since the game went open in 1992.

The pity was that not much of the two facets were on display this afternoon. Yes, there was plenty of hard work, plenty of hard yards made, lots of huff and puff, particularly around the ruck and maul, lots of mistakes, some elementary like dropping passes and failure to pass accurately, a seemingly endless string of penalty offences and, in the end a massive disappointment for the team and its supporters.

The game swung to and fro in big swathes. Ilkley spent the first 15 minutes or so under the cosh defending inside their own 22. Darlington failed to breach the Ilkley defence, much down to good and determined tackling but not a little due to Darlington’s propensity to give away penalties and make elementary mistakes.

Mr Andy Baker is a referee of substantial experience having refereed the Dalesmen many times in their recent league campaigns. He stands for no nonsense and referees the ruck and maul situation tightly and accurately. It was the Dalesmen who first got the wrong end of his decisions but they quickly worked out just what he regarded as unacceptable and what was allowed. Darlington didn’t and suffered as a result.

Having repelled the marauding men from the north, Ilkley settled down and got to grips with the visitors. They spent the remainder of the half camped in Darlington territory using the driving maul and other England-like tactics to try and break down what was an equally tenacious defence. It was a remarkably similar performance to the opening 20 minutes except it was at the other end of the field. Surely one of these two teams would breach the defence?

It wasn’t until the half hour that any points appeared on board. Peter Shanks doing the business with a well struck penalty goal.

With five minutes to the half-time whistle the siege was lifted and the game swung back Darlington’s way. Two big tackles from Charlie Cudworth and Chris Weatherby being the highlights of this phase sum up what kind of display this was.

Darlington missed one attempt at a penalty goal from wide out then converted another from in front to level matters at three apiece at half time. Unusually it was second rower Bill Smith taking the kicks.

The still expectant crowd must have expected better fayre from both sides in the second half. They were to be disappointed. It was business as usual from both sides.

Ilkley pressed hard for the first 20 and, such were the number phases and attempts at battering their way over the line, that it seemed impossible for them not to score. That they didn’t is probably down to their refusal to run the ball wide, something that had seen them score four tries on their visit to Darlington, though Darlington would claim it was down to their superb defence.

A penalty goal was spurned as Mr Baker tired of off-side on the line. On reflection to have taken a certain three points may have had better dividends but such was the pressure at the time a try was regarded as the ultimate prize and worth going for. The attack from the set piece was repelled and shoulders dropped.

Now Darlington became the beneficiaries of Mr Baker’s decisions having lost two players to yellow cards during the half.

A series of penalties took the visitors away from danger and more tenacious harrying took them into Ilkley territory almost for the first time in the half.

Now it was the Dalesmen who were being battered and called on to defend again. Only when John Cooksey was yellow-carded did the visitors breach the Ilkley line, driving a line-out for all of 25 metres to touch down under a melee of bodies.

Smith added the conversion. John Oakes, Cooksey's front row colleague followed to the sin-bin with five minutes to go and Ilkley’s day was done.

This was definitely one that got away. It was there for the taking. It is just as difficult to explain a performance like this when games such as Pontefract and Billingham are fresh in the memory.

There was no lack of effort and no shirking of responsibilities by the Dalesmen, just a simple lack of seeing what needed to be done. It is easy to sit and write these observations. It is far more difficult to implement them on the field. The one impediment being the opposition. If they won’t let you play, they have done their job and done it well.

It now looks as though the remaining matches Ilkley have to play in this league (a league too far?) will be for pride. There is no shortage of that commodity in the ranks of the Dalesmen.

This Saturday they make the difficult trip into North Humberside, or what many of the assembled crowd would call the East Riding, to face Driffield, currently lying fourth in the league, but a team Ilkley could so easily have beaten but didn’t in the home encounter. Kick-off is at 3pm.

The second fifteen, now bolstered by some new young recruits and under the enthusiastic management of Keith Davidson, came a narrow second to a good Bradford and Bingley side. There are good signs for the future amongst the ranks.

There is a shiny new future in prospect as the clubhouse and changing room project start date approaches. Still things have to fall into place and, so far, there is nothing to say it can’t start as planned in June this year.