THE Ilkley Centurions, Ilkley RFC's third team, are now unbeaten in 15 games this season after winning 36-0 on a quagmire of a pitch at Cleckheaton.

Playing downhill against a strong wind, the Centurions drew first blood after some efficient recycling of the ball saw Josh Bye run in a try.

Two well-worked tries followed with Nick Roberts playing a vital support role in each.

The first was a pick and go starting from the Cleckheaton 22. Some quick recycling saw George Dale offload to Roberts, who scored to make it 12-0.

From from the restart, Dale ran the ball back into the heart of the Cleckheaton defence, where he emerged with only the full-back to beat. He offloaded to Roberts, who set up Will Vaughan for a 30-metre run in. A missed conversion saw the scoreline at 17-0.

Cleckheaton came back into the game, but some telling tackles by Adam Della Rocca and Al Horner saw the Centurions keep them out.

Just as Ilkley started to turn the tide, the referee blew the whistle for half-time having only played just over 30 minutes.

With the wind now in their favour, Ilkley used this to their advantage with Lee Brown and former 3rd XV stalwart George Holden pulling the strings and kicking intelligently for territory.

Notable contributors to the kick and chase were Matt Walker and Dan Snowden, who enforced huge territorial gains by forcing Cleckheaton to kick out just beyond their own 22.

It was work at the subsequent line-outs by Max Franks and the rest of the pack which gave Ilkley their platforms to score the next two tries.

Following a line-out, Adam Acker's strong run was stopped short by eight metres. The ball was recycled and scrum-half Callum Pepper passed to Horner on the blind side. Horner showed a turn of pace to beat his defender and score.

After Cleckheaton were penalised, a quick tap penalty taken by Holden, with Walker running a good support line saw Ilkley go under the posts to stretch the score to 29-0.

Ben Rawnsley rounded off the scoring at 36-0 with another try from a kick and chase and the referee blew the whistle for full-time after only 60 minutes.

CHRISTOPHER DUXBURY