ILKLEY 27 ROSSENDALE 13

Not the best of days for Rossendale who with Waterloo losing away at Billingham had the opportunity to move above the Merseysiders into fourth place but slipped back to seventh unable to make much headway against a very resilient Ilkley side losing 27-13 at Stacks Field,
It started well for the visitors with a try from Dominic Moon the back row taking the scoring pass from scrum half Ryan De La Harpe after Paddy Pole had broken through, standing out from a loose maul.

The lead was short lived as the home side hit back with a try from James Johnson, the conversion by Joe Rowntree affording a 7-5 lead at the interval,

A penalty by Steve Nutt restored the Rossendale advantage with a try from George Peel after Danny Collins had snaffled an over- throw by Ilkley at the line out to put James Bramhall away, the outside half throwing a delightful long pass out to the winger who went over wide out to put his side 7-13 ahead.

A try from James Spencer converted by Rowntree gave the Yorkshire outfit a one point lead with two penalties from Rowntree leaving the visitors needing to score twice.

Unfortunately although Rossendale continued to press a second try from Johnson converted by Rowntree sealed the win for the home side.

Geoff Lightfoot