The wind had abated to a crossfield strong breeze but the sun shone as Ilkley met Sandal for the second time this seasons the Ilkley faithfully gathered hoping that last week's performance was well behind them.
They were not to be disappointed as a determined Ilkley side set about their task down the slope with wave after wave attacking the Sandal line. After 5 minutes Will Martindale crossed in the corner for an unconverted try. Ilkley resumed their pressure with more good attacking play and it was Adam Booth who crossed for a deserved try converted by Charles Morgan. At this point, after a quarter of an hour, Sandal had barely touched the ball. However, they are too good a side to lie down and they awoke with a break out move resulting in a kick ahead and catch by their left wing who scored a converted try.
This signaled a determined effort by Ilkley to regain momentum and Harry Harrison duly obliged with a barnstormer run through several opponents to score a superb try duly converted by Morgan. Then Ilkley had a setback when Jamie Slater was invited to take a ten minute rest for an unfathomable offence! Ilkley we're stretched and Sandal came again with a deserved converted try which had a few Ilkley supporters chewing their nails. However, worse was to come on half time as Harrison slapped the ball down and left the field whilst Sandal coolly converted the penalty to bring the scores to 17 - 19 to Ilkley.
Playing the second half uphill was not an appealing prospect for Ilkley against big hard running Sandal forwards and this was duly fulfilled with an unconverted Sandal try. However, Ilkley, back to 14, thrust themselves back into the lead when big Jack Hamilton ran through an unprotected ruck to score a converted try under the posts. This steadied the ship for the next 10 minutes helped by a return to 15 men. Sandal are no pushovers though and they regained the lead with two converted tries for a 36 - 26 lead. Back to the fingernails again!
As full time loomed Ilkley battled back and Harrison scored his second after good attacking play, again converted by Morgan. Hope rose for an Ilkley win until after a great run by Walker was stopped by a superb run and tackle by Sandal. However, Waker let go of the ball, correctly, rose and ran under the posts for an excellent try. Unfortunately, the referee, hurrying to catch up with play, was unsighted and awarded Sandal a penalty. Roared on by the Ilkley faithfully, back came Ilkley on the attack and Jordan Cummins marked his return with a score near the corner. This was superbly converted by Charles Morgan as the referee blew for time and an Ilkley victory!
This was an exciting game in which both sides made mistakes but both contributed to an entertaining game. Ilkley can reflect with pride on their turnaround from last week's poor performance and if they can play more consistently then they can fear no team.
Our South African correspondent was quick to tells us that this is the first Ilkley win at Sandal since 2006!
Andrew Munro
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