Illingworth V Sherburn Bears 23/01/16

Sherburn travelled away to Halifax side Illingworth for the quarter finals of the Pennine Supplementary Cup, looking to progress to the semi-finals for the 3rd time in 6 years, however missing a number of key players not least influential halfback Sam Booth it looked as if it may prove a difficult tie, but the Bears were confident that the players in the 17 had enough quality to get the job done.

Illingworth were quite a young side and similar to the Bears liked to play a fast attacking style of rugby, both sides came out of the blocks fast trying to wrestle control of the ruck from each other. Sherburn looked a little shaky in the first 10 minutes but strong carries from Jacob Scales, Lewis Booth, Ray Boyze, Johnboy Fenwick and Ryan Roebuck kept the Bears in contention. It would be the home side though who would strike first though capitalising on a couple of dubious penalties to cross over out wide after good hands swept the ball from one side of the pitch to the other no conversion but Illingworth were in the driving seat at 4-0.

The Bears continued to misfire in attack despite making good metres, without the usual ball playing spine of Pugh, Booth, Culshaw and Jordan Sherburn just couldn’t find their usual fluency in attack and started to get frustrated, with a vociferous home support Illingworth whooped and cheered every tackle as if it was the best hit of the season as opposed to just a regular tackle, however it didn’t take the Bears long to rise to the bait and soon shots were flying in from all over on the Illingworth players with Joel Booth, Scales, Fenwick, Bryn Watson and Lewis Booth all popping up with some monster tackles, still this inevitably lead to a few more penalties and more frustration which Illingworth capitalised on to score their second try 10 minutes from half time, again no conversion but the home side now had a two score lead.

The second half didn’t start well for the Bears, injuries to Joel and Lewis Booth, Luke Wood and Mikey Dalton all hobbled off either just before or just after half time, and the Bears were really struggling now to contain Illingworth’s speed of the play the ball, and it wasn’t helped by some lack lustre defence from a large section of the side, lots of shirt grabbing and general lethargy to move up and work from marker as well as getting bodies on the floor in the tackle meant that Illingworth took control of the game, following a sin binning of Sherburn half back Connor Jordan Illingworth capitalised on the extra man and ran in a third try before scoring a 4th from an error at the back just yards from the line. At 16-0 down with just over 15 minutes left the Bears new the jig was up but to their credit they scored one try through Jordan Richards who played well from fullback, then had a second turned down after a minor fracas resulted in 2 Sherburn and 1 Illingworth player being sent from the field.

Despite their numerical disadvantage the Bears continued 4 more scores went begging 2 due to dropped balls and two more from forward passes, this minor fightback being inspired by stand-off Ronnie Roebuck who showed some deft touches at the end to carve the home side open on their right flank, inexplicably Fenwick scored on the final whistle only for the score not to be allowed for some unfathomable reason.

Best for the day on the season’s most disappointing game to date was JP Plant Hire man of the match Captain Ray Boyes who grafted hard throughout to keep his side in the game, Roebuck and Richards also played well in a team performance that many of the players will be happy to forget. The Bears must dust themselves of from the cup disappointment when the entertain fellow title hopefuls in East Leeds this Saturday at Eversley Park with a 2pm kick off, the club would appeal to all fans to get down and support the side this Saturday in a big game for their local side.