The Illts completed their season in the best possible style, producing a superb performance to beat Cambrian Welfare 41-15 and clinch promotion. A bonus point win and preventing the home side from getting anything was the only way the Illts could guarantee promotion with Cambrian still having one home game left, and they did this in fine style, scoring 5 tries and capping a memorable season with a great finish.
The Illts started well and created opportunities, but the lack of precision which cost them the week before at Treharris was again in evidence with missed opportunities caused by over anxiety in attack. After a forward pass killed a promising attack, Sean Cochlin kicked the Illts in front after the home team had been caught offside.
The Illts pack were on top at the set piece, starving the home side of possession but Cambrian continued to look dangerous, tapping penalties quickly and looking to catch the Illts off guard. After a series of sustained attacks, clever hands released the home winger to score and Cambrian led 7-3.
The lead was shortlived as the Illts hit back immediately, after a break by Tom Wheeler had the home defence scrambling, a penalty was kicked to the corner and from a well orchestrated lineout drive the ref gave a penalty try as the home side collapsed the maul as hooker Mike Hiscocks was being driven over. Cochlin converted and the Illts led 10-7.
The game continued at a great pace but the Illts scored a crucial second try on the stroke of half time. After another lineout drive was stopped illegally, the Illts opted for the scrum and the with the Illts marching forward the ref eventually lost patience with the home side and awarded a second penalty try, Cochlin converted for a half time score of 17-7.
Cambrian started the second half quickly and a penalty reduced the gap and brought them within 7 points, but the game turned after the Illts hit an incredible purple patch when both sides had a man sin binned after a scuffle resulted in yellows for Rob Rowley and the home 7. The Illts exploded into life, some dazzling offloading releasing Matt Banner into space who fed inside for Gavin Knapp to charge over, with Cochlin again converting. An almost straight from the kick off the Illts were at it again, this time Codey Rees sliding through the defence and giving a lovely offload for Knapp to score his second, again converted by Cochlin and suddenly the Illts were 31-10 to the good.
Shortly later, a powerful lineout drive saw the Illts march Cambrian back to their own 22 and Tom Wheeler broke from the base and bumped off the last defender to score his 24th try of the season. Cochlin converted and added a drop goal for good measure a few minutes later. With the score at 41-10 the home side continued to attack to the end and were rewarded when the fly half crossed in the corner after a series of phases saw the Illts run out of defenders.
The Illts won the ball from the kick off and secured a scrum, allowing Cochlin to kick the ball off the field and spark scenes of jubilation as the Illts had clinched promotion. This set up the evening perfectly as 80 Old Illtydians gathered at Cardff Arms Park for the annual presentation evening, hosted by MC Dai Hughes and with Phil Steele providing superb post dinner entertainment.
In the evening, Dai Mac was crowned second team player of the year for the 14th time, making the trip home to collect his Visa worthwhile. Players player of the year was fly half Sean Cochlin, who completed a superb first season at the Illts scoring 223 points and steering the team round the park expertly. The player of the year was his half back partner Lewis Andrews, another who has had a superb first season with the club, bringing calm control and quality service to the scrum half position, as well as excellent defence.
The Club would also like to make special mention of 2 stalwarts who are hanging up the boots. Centre Neil Dallimore, an Illts youth product broke into the first team aged 17 and was an ever present in the 12 jersey pretty much from then onwards with the exception of the seasons he spent playing at a higher level, representing Caerphilly, Llanharan and the South Wales Scorpions with distinction. One of the toughest men to pull on the green and gold, Dallis powerful ball carrying and hard hitting defence were the features of his game most will remember, although his excellent footwork before contact and his work on the jackal were also notable. Dalli battled back from a horrendous broken leg against Fairwater and returned to win player of the year the following season in a promotion and East District Cup winning year, and this very much summed up the man, an iron will and a refusal to be beaten.
Also finishing on a high is skipper Phil Morse. Phil joined the club in 2006-2007, and has been an ever present in the back row for the last 10 seasons, completing an unprecedented 7 seasons a first XV Captain. Phils first couple of seasons as skipper were tough, with relegation from division 4 on games won being a particularly tough pill to swallow. Phil continued to put in performance after performance during these tough times, showing the character of the man. Much of the subsequent success, the division 5 title win and the last few years pushing form promotion to division 2 can be attributed to Phil’s leadership. An excellent lineout forward who played across the back row, Phils pace and work rate were second to none, and he will leave a huge hole both in the back row and as Captain.
A massive thank you to both players from all at the Club.
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