Ilkley 58, Ripon 14: In front of their sponsors and in conditions so perfect it would be hard to beat a day like this Ilkley laid on a rugby fest for their faithful supporters.

Stacks Field was a vision to behold, looked down upon by the glories of Ilkley Moor and Middleton Woods and bathed in warm winter sunshine.

The pitch had made its usual good recovery from last week's mudbath and was in absolutely perfect condition. This was the ideal day for Ilkley to prove they were capable of much better things than they had produced so far.

Eight tries, six conversions and two penalties made Saturday at Stacks Field the perfect day for everyone connected to the club and cemented the opinion that results to date don't reflect the real ability of this side.

That the eight tries came exclusively from the backs was proof that Ilkley can play the expansive game but this wasn't just a day for the backs. The forwards played their part in grinding out the hard yards, and hounding the Ripon backs so tigerishly that, in the end, they made the mistakes that resulted in the Dalesmen's try scoring spree.

The front row of Mike Noble, Ben Wade and Stuart Nesbit (sub John Hutchinson, 60 mins) held their own despite being up against a formidable pack. Matt Newberry and Nick Brook secured virtually all the Ilkley line-out ball and the back row first of all extinguished any threat that Ripon might have posed and then set about building the platform from which the Ilkley backs took full advantage.

The return of Charlie Cudworth had an immense influence on the Ilkley game and both Gus Rogers and young Ian Mackenzie had big games under his influence and inspiration.

Mackenzie finally coming through his back row apprenticeship with flying colours. Three big hits in the first twenty minutes were testimony to that.

Whilst the forwards made it all possible, this was the backs' day. Tim Barley and skipper Anthony Cadman orchestrated it. Ben MacDonald and Phil Moffat provided the continuity and Simon Smith and Dan Nulty with hat tricks and Sean Gilbert with two put the icing on the cake.

Nulty opened the scoring after five minutes with a now typical run round two defenders to go in under the posts after Tim Barley had disrupted the Ripon scrum-half's pass.

It was Barley's presence particularly around the base of scrums that was to prove to be Ripon's undoing. That was 7-0.

Then Ilkley fell for the same sucker punch as last week. A Ripon line, a drive, ball out to the backs, full back Potter in on the charge, one missed tackle and the Hornblowers were level.

That was effectively the last time Ripon came close until the match was long won and lost.

Cadman added a penalty to restore the lead after Cudworth had charged on into the blues' 22.

Nulty was nearly in again after a chip and chase. Ripon were guilty of holding on and from the scrum the ball was won and fed out to Simon Smith to force his way over in the corner. Cadman's kick hit the upright making it 15-7.

Then Nulty showed some more of his repertoire taking a kick from over his head going back towards his line. From this little piece of virtuoso stuff Rogers then Cudworth drove on to win another penalty which Cadman put away to make it 18-7.

Nulty repeated the over the head take act this time to feed Phil Moffat who broke two tackles to feed inside to Nulty who skipped through two more tacklers to score. Cadman improved it to make it 25-7.

Half-time came with Ripon wondering what they could do to get back into this game. The answer was soon clear. They had nothing in their armoury to compete, but credit them for sticking robustly to the task.

They did not give up trying. Ex Ilkley hero Neil Whitaker's son George coming on at full-back to replace Bell.

Sean Gilbert was next. His try was a beauty. The ball being whipped out wide through six pairs of hands before he broke three tackles to touch down under the posts for 32-7.

Ripon came back with a good spell but with the red and blacks' defence so tight and so attentive they finally lost possession to Smith who charged away from the desperate defenders to go in under the posts for 39-7.

Ilkley could have had a couple more but for the odd mistake and a badly refereed ruck from which a penalty was reversed in the defenders' favour.

Nulty had another chip and chase go loose when a score looked on. Then it was Smith and MacDonald making the yards to set Gilbert up for his second scored out wide after a good run.

Brook robbed a line-out ball when a reply looked possible but two penalties kept the pressure temporarily on until Barley cleared.

The blues came back again this time securing a line-out ball and driving on and over through their big lock McAra.

The kick was good but 32 points was now an impossible task.

Perhaps the try of the match was then produced by the now rampant Ilkley backs as they charged upfield spreading the ball out wide through at least ten pairs of hands to put Nulty in in the corner for his third making it 51-14.

Smith then latched on to another loose ball after the Ripon centre, probably heartily sick of having close attention of opposite number and the back row all match, dropped a pass. Smith pounced and like a flash was away and unstoppable to bag his third. Cadman made no mistake with the kick making the final score 58-14.

Referee Mr Andy Hampshire, who had contributed well to a good game, blew for the end of what can only be described as one of the Dalesmen's best displays of the season.

Credit must be given to coach Richard Midgeley and his assistant Richard Lebas for keeping the spirits up during the darker days of the season.

Ilkley can now look forward to completing the season with a new sense of optimism and if they play like they did on Saturday three wins out of the three remaining fixtures should keep their place in this toughest of leagues. However all that remains in the air as the final sort out at the end of the season has many permutations. The nail biting continues.

l Saturday sees Ilkley travel to West Leeds, a side well beaten at Stacks Field in November.