Ilkley kicked off with a breeze at their backs putting immediate pressure on Yarnbury with a good chase down and strong work from their forwards. The first few minutes of the game was played in the forwards with possession changing regularly from good work and mistakes from both sides. It wasn’t long before Ilkley got their backs in the game with a good centre pairing that moved the ball well and ran hard. Eventually getting the ball out wide and a couple of missed tackles by Yarnbury saw Ilkley take the lead, but missed the conversion, 0-5 Ilkley. The Yarnbury backs were finding it hard to get anything going and could only put pressure on themselves and gave away a number of poor penalties which allowed Ilkley to clear to safety and put pressure back on Yarnbury. A change at fly half brought a bit of stability to the Yarnbury midfield. Yarnbury stood strong with good defending and strong tackling from the centre pairing of Tom Cotterill and Rob Winterburn, ably supported by the back row of Charlie Philpot, Ed Green and Joe Pilling. At the end of the first half Yarnbury won a penalty just outside the Ilkley 22 to take the score to 3-5 at half, only for an uncharacteristic miss from Max Lee meant that Ilkley kept a 5 point lead as the whistle blew.
A few changes at half time were made to help bolster the competition at the break down. This started to show early on as Yarnbury started to find good areas on the field. The first try opportunity came for Yarnbury with James West coming in off the wing, only to be held up by good work by the Ilkley defence to prevent what seemed like a simple touch down for a try. Yarnbury continued to push for the score and it soon came from the lively James Longhawn, seizing on the opportunity for a pick and go straight through the middle of a ruck and under the post, converted by Max and a 7-5 lead. Yarnbury's 2nd try came quickly after from a good box kick from Max and Oscar running through to collect the ball and score, with Max converting for a 14-5 lead. The game was by no means over and Ilkley came straight back at Yarnbury with strong forward play backed up by powerful running in the centre. Suddenly the score was back to 14-10 after a number of missed tackles and poor line discipline by Yarnbury allowed Ilkley back in the game.
The final 10 minutes of the game and the Ilkley pressure lead to what can only be described as a whirlwind of chaos! Firstly, Carter Proctor was yellow carded for a high tackle, despite a previous warning from the ref and it was 14 v 15 for the rest of the game. This gave Ilkley the drive to push for a winner with the Yarnbury defence standing strong, only for Ilkley to go down to 14 men due to injury. But it was far from over and with only a couple of minutes left on the clock, the usually reliable calm Tom Cotterill went from hero to villain in matter of seconds. Firstly thwarting an Ilkley attack by winning a holding on penalty in the Yarnbury 22 for then to clothes-line the Ilkley winger on their next attack, another high tackle, Yellow card, 13 v 14. From the Ilkley line out the impressive Will Sammon, who had been a thorn in the side of the Ilkley line-out all game, again managed to disrupt and give Yarnbury possession. Time was up on the clock, game over….oh no….the Yarnbury players wanted to give the spectators and the coaches heart palpitations!! Kick to touch and game over….not this time, first Charlie Webb, ball in hand on his own try line only managed to find the Ilkley winger near the halfway line instead of tapping it a couple of feet over the dead ball line, but good work from Yarnbury at the breakdown gave scrum half Max Lee the opportunity to put the ball into touch from 3 meters out. Oh no…………..what can only be described as the biggest slice since Leon Miller cut his own birthday cake (he has a big appetite) saw the ball loop back into the Yarnbury 22. With an Ilkley player bearing down on the ball and the inevitable about to happen, Luke McGibbon managed to scramble back and seal the ball off until back up arrived. From the ensuing ruck the ball found it’s way to Saman Azari, with screams of kick it to touch from everyone in Horsforth Saman duly obliged, with a prop spoon kick that floated (only just) in to touch…..and breathe, another Yarnbury win 14-10 and a 5 minutes the coaches never want to re-live again!
Thanks to Ilkley for a great entertaining game and a great set of lads.