Ilkley travelled over to Sandal for the return fixture from the early weekends int he season. With an exceptionally close game away at Ilkley, Sandal were certainly expecting a tough test for the final game of the calendar year.
Coming of a fabulous result the previous weekend, confidence was a high and were boosted with getting the physically of Groves and Seckham back into the team. The opening half was everything we expected from the game. The opening 20 minutes was extremely close and the deadlock eventually broken with a Roper try with a smart play down the blind side.
This opened the floodgates for scoring with 5 tries in the first half. A thorn in Sandal’s side was dealing with the kick off and this prevented us from pulling away. Sandals other 2 scores from the first half came from Seckham in typical fashion. Half time score of 17 all, whichever team could deal best with momentum swings was going to take away the spoils.
The 2nd half ended up been quite a different game, with Sandal’s defence going to another level, highlighted best with Bacons try saving effort on the line. Ilkley had plenty of possession, most of which in the Sandal 22 but couldn’t take advantage. Roper, Groves, Seckham and Hallett were also exceptional during this period. Jarvis who also had a great game got his usual yellow card. He was supported brilliantly in the front row with Clarke, Parker and Beeney who quietly goes unnoticed but engine and work rate is extremely valuable to this team.
Seckham managed to grab his hat-trick early in the 2nd half. This was followed with the wonderful defence mentioned above and the game was broken open with about 10 minutes to go with tries from West and Bailey.
It has been a great 1st half to the season for the 2s and deservedly head into the break 2nd in the league. While all games are important, home fixtures against Sheffield and Hull in the new year may will be crucial to where we finish the season. If the standards and numbers at training continue to remain high, availability stays high there’s no reason why this can’t be another fabulous season.

Try scores: Seckham x3, Roper, West, Bailey
Conversions: Vickers x3
Man of the match: Scott Seckham (despite Vickers nominating himself)
Many thanks JRD