Ilkley were up against it at Wath

ILKLEY were up against it from the start when Dave Bussell was held up in a traffic jam and did not make the game. Added to this Martin Griffiths was injured in the opening minutes so Ilkley had used their two replacements.

This disruption meant that the re-shuffled back row was unable to beat Wath to the breakdown resulting in Ilkley losing their own ball.

In addition Wath's fly-half had more room to move in and he made it count by going over for a solo try.

Despite their disadvantages and with no recognised hooker Ilkley dominated the set pieces and took their share of line-out ball.

Scrum domination gave them a good start with Wath penalised for collapsing and this put Ilkley 3-0 ahead.

Although they camped on Wath's line for the last ten minutes of the first-half Ilkley were unable to add to Justin Hewitt's penalty and Nick Bell's opportunist try down the blind side.

In the second-half Ilkley's lack of pace in the back row meant that they were stretched in defence and losing second phase ball in attack. This enabled Wath to add a further converted try and a penalty to win the game despite an overall excellent performance by the forwards and Jimmy Carr at scrum-half.

Ilkley can take heart from their forward performance which will need to be repeated on Saturday when they entertain a strong scrummaging Leos side. Ilkley will have to make better use of their possession.

Ilkley U-13s 29 Aldwinians U-13s 0

THE first-half was very tight with Ilkley kicking away possession.

However, the forwards defended stoutly and, after Henry Flather put Ilkley ahead, the team gained in confidence.

By the end of the first-half the scrum had improved and line-outs were more controlled.

The second-half started with Ilkley winning a scrum against the head and both Chris Riley and Barry Hainsworth put in excellent tackles.

Ilkley's efforts were rewarded by two scorching tries from Daniel Connell. This was followed by a 40 metre sprint over the line from Matthew Tosh. There was also a dazzling score from scrum-half Henry Wood.

Matthew Tosh and Tom Monkman added the conversions. Oliver Barnett was Man-of-the-Match.

Moortown U-17s 10 Ilkley U-17s 31

Ilkley Under-17s played the better rugby and eventually emerged as comfortable winners - a contrast to a first-half which saw the lead change hands and the match looked in the balance.

The visitors began confidently but soon fell behind to Moortown's first try. Within two minutes Ilkley were in front through Richard Benson's try and Nick Thackeray's conversion.

Moortown responded with what proved to be their only other score when they added a second unconverted try. Ilkley began to take control towards the end of the first-half and there were scores for Craig Kirkaldy and Duncan Sanders.

Moortown won more of the line-outs in the second-half but were unable to capitalise on the few chances which came their way. Mark Monkman did some sterling work in defence. Moortown began to wilt under increasing pressure from the visitors who added further tries from Duncan Sanders and Michael Wycherley, with two more conversions from Nick Thackeray.

This was an excellent team performance by Ilkley. Among the backs Richard Benson had a fine game. Mark Anderson, the Kirkaldy brothers and David Fisher foraged well among the forwards.

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