In a season which has been notable for constant changes of personnel due to injury and unavailability, Fylde have the luxury of making just one change for the team’s trip to National Two (North) leaders Sedgley Park. Hat trick try scoring hero v Heath a week ago, Rob Williamson, starts at hooker in place of injured James Sutcliffe. The rest of the pack remains and the backline is also unchanged.
A strong batch of replacements sees the welcome return of prop Corey Bowker who has played just a single game on the opening day of the season. Forwards Will Greenwood and Ethan Hulme also return and join Greg Morgan (returning to his old club) and Danny Cassidy.
Fylde face their toughest challenge of the season visiting Park Lane to face an outstanding Sedg outfit – eight out of eight wins, averaging 52 points per game. Only ‘Hoppers last week got close to ruffling their feathers before losing late on by 27-35 at Lightfoot Green last Saturday.
Given the close relationship between the two long established Lancashire clubs, it seems surprising that they have met at 1st XV level in league action only on 15 occasions over 25 years. Sedg have the bragging rights, just, with 8 victories, Fylde 6 and one draw.
They have a very stable squad, with the core of it made up of loyal and experienced players such as Connor James, Bob Birtwell, Danny Rylance and John Blanchard. Their pack is hard working, makes few mistakes and is powerful throughout. At least one of the half backs will be very familiar to Fylde followers – no 10 Greg Smith who had a long and successful career at the Woodlands as playmaker and goal kicker. Other players have gone to and fro in recent years – Greg Morgan & Aaron Pope to Fylde, Ben Gregory, Danny Maher & Matt Sturgess to Sedg. Players from both clubs also know each other very well from their joint commitment to the very successful Lancashire County senior squad in which they were team mates.
Sedgley’s Director of Rugby is another former Fylde star, Scott Barrow, who was an influential member of the Woodlands team at centre in the early 2010s decade.
This season there has been a remarkable National League debut from replacement scrum-half Mason Winterburn who has scored eight tries in a handful of appearances coming on mainly from the bench. Other leading try scorers have been hooker Luke Cole (7), winger Thomas Hesketh (6) and flanker Alex Minozzi (6). It’s likely that two brothers who grew up in the Isle of Man and ultimately progressed to Sale Sharks Academy will find themselves in tough competition – Sedgley fullback Nathan Pope and brother Aaron Pope who has joined Fylde in recent weeks.
Another stand out Sedg player is former Sale Sharks centre Joe Bedlow who also played a number of matches for Fylde as a dual registered player whilst at the Sharks.
The Sedgley Park squad is:
