The Old Illts made it 3 wins out of 3 in the league by the narrowest of margins. The Illts made the worst possible start when after a series of missed tackles, the powerful home 12 crashed over in the corner with an excellent conversion making it 7-0. The Illts tried to get going and outside half Sean Cochlin reduced the deficit with a penalty. But with less than 10 minutes on the clock, the Illts were facing an uphill task when Cochlins pass was picked off by the home winger who raced 50 yards for another converted score, 14-3.
The Illts battled back and with the pack becoming increasingly dominant at set piece, reduced the arrears with penalty from Cochlin and then a pushover try from prolific no 8 Tom Wheeler. Cochlin missed the conversion. Llandaff came back strongly and had the Illts stretched after a quick tap penalty caught them napping an they were caught offside, the 10 slotted the pen and the score was 17-11.
The Illts gain came back and when Llandaff were penalised 5 metres out Captain Andrew Maunder had no hesitation in opting for the scrum, with the pack obliging with a penalty try, Cochlin adding the extras to give the Illts the lead for the first time. Unfortunately, this was the last competitive scrum of the game as Llandaff had front row cover but no hooker on the bench. Amazingly the ref continued to allow Llandaff to make subs throughout the second half but a major area of dominance had been removed.
The second half was difficult as both sides fell foul of the refs whistle, with the passive scrums also not helping the flow of the game. Cochlin and the home 10 exchanged a pair of penalties each, with the Illts leading 24-23 when disaster struck. A clever blindside break by the home 9 resulted in a try by the supporting flanker, superbly converted to put Llandaff 6 points head. The Illts showed great character, finally stringing some phases together with lovely passes from Cochlin and hooker Mike Hiscocks releasing Wheeler who beat 2 men to score close to the posts. Cochlin converted to put the Illts back in front and despite a nervy last 2 minutes, the visitors held on to win 31-30.
For the Illts the standout performances were the front row of Rowley, Hiscocks and Josh Harris who scrummaged superbly for the first 40 and carried hard throughout the game, as well as Wheeler who was denied a second consecutive hatrick by the ref awarding a penalty try and continues to amaze with his try tally. Not at our best but an away win against a good team, a good 4 points.
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