Ilkley's poor away form

Ilkley 3

ILKLEY'S poor away form continued as promotion chasing Castleford recorded a comprehensive victory.

As with a lot of games Ilkley started well and took the game to their opponents. Two rolling mauls near their line almost produced tries but the Castleford defence held well.

However, a well taken penalty saw Ilkley take a 3-0 lead. Castleford's bulkier pack and mobile backs started to take its toll. Ilkley defended well and held out until the half hour mark.

The home side opened their account with an unconverted try. A further try followed shortly before the interval.

A good rucked ball just inside Ilkley's 22 was fed out to the backs who had too much pace for the visitors. An unconverted try gave Castleford a 10-3 interval lead.

The second half quickly ran away from Ilkley. Two further tries, one converted only minutes into the half, saw Castleford extend their lead to 22-3.

Ilkley tried to get back into the game but could not make any headway against Castleford's defence.

The visitors added to their problems by losing too many balls in key situations. With the game drawing to an end Castleford added two further unconverted tries - one very bizarre.

A Castleford penalty just inside Ilkley's half saw their scrum half take the penalty and run unopposed to the line.

Ilkley now take on league leaders Bradford Salem at home on Saturday (kick off 2.15pm).

Castleford 36

Ilkley B 6

Ilkley Thirds travelled to face a Casteford side which boasted strength in all departments.

The home side ran the ball at every opportunity. The visitors never gave up but despite determined defence, Castleford scored tries in both halves.

Ilkley's only reply was a penalty from full- back Paul Witherington.

Ilkley U-16s 65

Keighley 5

This game proved to be as one-sided as the score suggests.

Ilkley dominated virtually every phase of the game and seldom had to defend their line.

Eventually Ilkley ran in 11 tries, with Duncan Sanders and Michael Wycherley scoring four tries apiece.

The other try scorers were Duncan Setterington, Ben Holden and Jamie Davies. Andrew Van De Hagen added five conversions.

It was the speed and strength of Ilkley's play which caught the eye. At least three of the tries involved wonderful flowing moves and slick passing from a mixture of forwards and backs.

To Keighley's credit they did not lose spirit, scoring a consolation close to the end and were unlucky not to add a second.

Morley 22

Ilkley U-14s 0

The Under-14s continue to improve; in the first half, despite the scorleine, the forwards were winning the battle with some solid tackling from Chris Thompson and some good kicks from Tom Ross-Jones.

Morley took the lead with a score in the corner despite a good tackle by David Billington. The rest of the first half was an even midfield battle with Alex Walsh prominent in the backs with strong support.

The forwards continued to ruck well. Unfortunately, just before half time Morley kicked ahead to score.

In the second half Morley started to find more room and some strong running allowed them to score again. However, Ilkley continued to compete well and were unlucky on a number of occasions when going forward. Ilkley continued to win most of the scrums with prop danny Clay more than holding his own, with Joe Mac Dougall breaking well from the scrums.

Joint men of the match: Joe Mac Dougall and Peter Turnball.

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