W 32-20

By Charlie Hopper

Scarborough continued their fine run of form with a bonus point  victory over league leaders Ilkley at Silver Royd on Saturday.

Matty Jones’ side lost Harry Domett and Chris Purdy before kick-off, with Edward Hopper and Tom Anderson coming in at the last minute. This didn’t stop the Silver Royd outfit from starting on the front foot however, and the first points of the afternoon came from the boot of Tom Ratclffe. The Scarborough supporters, who had braved the blustery conditions, were then treated to the game’s first try in the 17th minute. After continued pressure, the ball was picked up from the back of the scrum and worked along the line to Joe Marshall. The centre crashing over in the corner. Ratcliffe’s conversion drifted wide, but it gave his side an 8-0 lead. The momentum continued to be in the home side’s favour, and in the 22nd minute a converted try helped stretch the lead further. Sam Dawson fell just short of the line, but the impressive Dylan Robinson collected and scored to the right of the posts. With the lead at 15-0, the visitors, who reached the summit of North One East last weekend, scored their first unconverted try of the afternoon. Scrum-half Jack Maplesden dodged the tackles to score. The lead was reduced to 15-10 in the 35th minute, with Harry Harrison capitalising on a defensive mistake to score another unconverted try. The last action of the first half came in the form of a Ratcliffe penalty to give his side a 18-10 lead going into the break.

The second half started in the perfect way for Jones’ side. Robinson caught the ball inside his own half, danced through the tackles but fell just short of the line. After building the phases, Sam Dawson powered through the defence to score in the corner. Ratcliffe added the difficult conversion to leave his side leading 25-10. Ilkley began turning the game on its head in the 50th minute, with two unanswered tries. Firstly, Harrison scored his second try after powering over in the corner. The Fly half Chuckie Ramsay failed to add the extras. With only 15 minutes remaining, the visitors reduced the deficit even further. The on loan full back Cameron Roberts received the ball on the wing and used his pace to crash over. Ramsay saw his conversion blow wide, but his side had closed the gap to 25-20. As the game headed into the final stages, Scarborough won a penalty deep in the Ilkley half. Luke Brown collected the ball from the back of the ruck and reached for the line, to score his first try of the afternoon. Ratcliffe added the extras to round of an impressive afternoon for his side and a 32-20 victory to continue their good run of form in 2022.

Scarborough make the short journey to Malton & Norton on Saturday, as they look to to make it six wins from the last six games.