The Illts reached the halfway stage of the season well placed in 3rd position, with 7 wins from 11 matches after a bonus point win over Gwernyfed. This was the sterotypical game of 2 halves, with the Illts doing all of the damage in the first 40. Despite playing with a strong wind against them in the first half, it was Gwernyfed who had the first chance to score when the Illts coughed up a penalty for not releasing, which the visiting scrum half missed.
This was the trigger for a first half blitz from the home side. The Illts broke the deadlock with the first visit to the opposition half, good set piece ball saw skipper Sean Cochlin feed Joe O'Sullivan who made a huge bust in midfield, beat the fullback and offloaded for Ryan Healy for a superb score. Cochlin converted from the touchline. A few minutes later another Healy break got the Illts on the front foot, when they shipped the ball wide Josh Williams produced a brilliant pick up and rounded the winger, another offload allowed Alf to score the Illts second try.
The visitors had a big pack and setlled into the game exerting a lot of pressure for the next 10 minutes but the home defence held its shape, conceding only 1 penalty in the process, which the Gwrnyffed 9 converted to reduce the deficit.
The illts backs were soon at it again, from a solid scrum Healy ran a beautiful line to cut the defence and beat the full back all ends up to score a superb individual try, converted by Cochlin, who added a monster penalty to extend the lead to 22-3. That man Healy was not to be denied, completing his hattrick after a huge bust from no 8 Shane Young off the back of a scrum, he timed his pass perfectly and release Healy for his 3rd try, again converted by Cochlin to give the Illts a 29-3 half time lead with the bonus point secured.
While the first half warmed the cockles, the second half was one to forget. A strong wind against them, a fired up visiting team and a frequent whistling ref ruined the game from a viewers perspective, and the result was the visitors camped in the Illts half for the whole second half. In fairness, the Illts didnt help themselves with some very poor discipline. They did defend very well though, and despite constant pressure and a stream of penalties, the home side only managed one try with a few minutes to go, the Illts sealing all 5 points with a 29-8 win.
Next game is a trip to Pentyrch on Saturday 19th, get down and support the boys if you can!
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