Sheffield 35 - Ilkley 19

Sheffield 35 - 19 Ilkley

Team Selection - 13th November 2010

15. Ewan Reed
14. Matthew Delany
13. Greg Hurst
12. Ryan Amos
11. Alex Hill
10. Donal Collins
9. Matthew Poste (Capt)

1. Tommy Marples
2. Carl Mortimer
3. Nick Tomsett
4. John Dudley
5. Dave Ellis
6. Laurence Thomas
7. Martin Balshaw
8. Simon McGee

16. Chris Stanney
17. Andrew Enevoldson
18. James Montgomery

Selection once again saw an number of changes to the team that last ventured forth to Keighley at the end of October. Matt Delany came in on the right wing in place of Ali Womack and Greg Hurst moved from the bench to outside centre in place of the injured Joe Cribley.

Injury to Ramzey Adamo saw Nick Tomsett take over in the front row at tight head prop with Chris Stanney retaining his place on the bench as front row cover. Dave Ellis moved from the back row to second row to partner John Dudley, with Simon McGee moving from the second row to No 8 as both captain Andy Ellis and Adrian Montague remain on the injury list. Martin Balshaw also made a very welcome returned at No 7 after more than a year out through injury. Andrew Enevoldson returned to the squad on the bench as back row cover and James Montgomery (Moose) also returned to the squad as cove for the backs. Matt Poste retained the captaincy in AK’s absence.

From the kick off Sheffield made a lively start and pressure Ilkley, but Ilkley did not buckle. And so as is oft the case, Ilkley managed to turn the ball over from a ruck and a speculative kick deep to the full back was put down and in the melee that followed, Sheffield conceded a penalty. Ilkley full back, Pete Shanks made no mistake and the visitors had a 3 point lead on 9 minutes, much against the run of play. From the kick off, Ilkley decided that the high ball deep was the way forward, and when once again Sheffield awarded them another penalty, which Shanks easily converted, few would have argued, Sheffield 0, Ilkley 6 with 10 minutes gone.

Sheffield however, decided that it might be time to start playing and pushed on hard into Ilkley territory, the result of which was another try for Big John Dudley from a rolling maul on13 minutes, which unfortunately Donal Collins could not convert. Sheffield continued to press and were rewarded 5 minutes later with a penalty, which on this occasion Collins converted and Sheffield moved into the lead for the first time at 8 points to 6.

However, as has our habit this year, we took the foot off the gas and with just 3 more minutes on the clock an impressive Ilkley back division gave winger Tuli Makaafi a slight opportunity, which he took, as some woeful tackling from the Sheffield backs saw him go in under the posts. The conversion was mere formality for Shanks and once again Ilkley took the lead at 6 points to 13 after 21 minutes. Again Sheffield showed some determination to rectify the situation and the pack began to dominate a not inconsiderable Ilkley eight and much of the play was now in the Ilkley half and 22. The referee’s arm went out for a penalty and Collins decided on the speculative drop goal, which sailed between the posts to reduce the deficit to 11 points to 13 with 26 minutes on the clock.

Sheffield now seemed to have control of the situation and continued to press, but initially without any reward. Then on 36 minutes Sheffield were awarded a penalty and Collins took them back into the lead at 14 points to 13 and half time arrived with several minutes of stoppage time played with no further score.

Obviously the break did not help Sheffield immediately as with 4 minutes of the restart they were deemed to have erred and once again Shanks showed his impressive kicking ability with yet another penalty to take Ilkley once more into the lead at 14 to 16. Again Sheffield upped their game and on 51 minutes were rewarded when Sheffield’s backs opened up the Ilkley defence and left wing Alex Hill was able to cross the try line and touch down just to the left of the posts. Collins added the extras and Sheffield had again moved ahead at 21 points to 16. Ryan Amos had to leave the field at this time and was replaced by Moose on the wing with Matt Delany moving inside to centre from the wing.

The pressure was almost all Sheffield’s and with 60 minutes elapsed, replacement Montgomery tore through the Ilkley defence to score on the right. Collin again added the extra two points and lead was extended to 28 points to 16. However, Ilkley were not going to lie down and mounted resurgence in their game, for which they were rewarded just 4 minutes later with a further penalty, and again Shanks made absolutely no mistake to reduce the deficit to 28 to 19.

Sheffield again rallied and with 69 minutes behind us, it once again Moose who cut the Ilkley defence to shreds and he manoeuvred his way from way out on the right to score out on the left and with Collins once again making the conversion, Sheffield led by 35 points to 19. In the last 10 minutes or so Ilkley pressed extremely hard and could have probably added to their score if a little bit of indiscipline had not entered their game, which saw very good position and possession turned over on the blast of the referee’s whistle, much to the relief of the players and coaching team, and also the watching faithful.

Substitutes were James Montgomery for Ryan Amos, Andrew Enevoldson for Martin Balshaw and Chris Stanney for Laurence Thomas. Chris took up residence in the second row with JD whist Dave Ellis dropped back into the back row.

Bradford Salem (2) 16 - 12 (2) Castleford
Bridlington (5) 29 - 6 (0) Dinnington
North Ribblesdale (4) 25 - 32 (4) Malton & Norton
Scarborough (3) 20 - 15 (0) Knottingley
Selby (5) 38 - 15 (2) Keighley
Sheffield (4) 35 - 19 (1) Ilkley
York (5) 32 - 32 (4) Heath