RHYS Morgan wants his Ilkley side to end their season with a flourish after they overtook last year's points tally.

The Stacks Field side travel to third-from-bottom Kendal on Saturday in the North Premier looking to go into pre-season by continuing their upturn in fortunes.

Ilkley are ahead of last year’s points total by one on 63 and they remain in eighth place. A win at Kendal would keep them there, just ahead of Alnwick, ironically the only side apart from champions Hull that the Dalesmen haven’t taken at least a point

from.

However Ilkley's momentum did suffer a dent when they crashed to a 47-27 defeat at Harrogate last weekend.

Ilkley will be missing prop Billy Nicholls for their trip to Cumbria, as he is on Yorkshire Under-20s duty at Gloucestershire u20s in the Jason Leonard U20 County Championship on Sunday.

Head of rugby Morgan hopes his charges don't suffer a final-day slip-up and have continued to be focused on victory in training this week under the guidance of coach Jamie Lowes.

Morgan said: "Kendal is a good game for us to finish on.

"It is a good trip and we will be having a good social back down here afterwards and dressing up as our sporting heroes. We will have a good time afterwards.

"It will be another tough game for us on Saturday. Kendal will not want to go out quietly on Saturday either. They lost to Wilmslow last Saturday. We can't take it lightly.

"We look at where we are in the league and want to finish on a high.

"We are eighth at the moment and don't want to slip up and drop down to ninth. Points are up for grabs there."

Morgan adds he is proud of his squad's overall performance during this campaign.

He said: "If we had turned around a few defeats during the season we could have been a bit higher than we are.

"I thought it would be a really tough season. Around 10 or 11 players left last season. I said before the first game of the season to the players that 'you are the boys of 2018/19, do you want relegation on your heads?' They have shown what they can do. The challenge was laid down at the first game of the season. We were safe early this year. I am really proud of them.

"It is a bit of a local rivalry with Harrogate and things did not go our way last weekend."

Meanwhile, Ilkley's players will see sporting action of a different kind next month.

They will tackle Ilkley Cricket Club in a 20-20 cricket match on Sunday, May 26. The 11-a-side clash will take place from 2pm at Ilkley Cricket Club's Middleton Avenue ground.