Fylde put behind a disappointing display against Sedgley last week to get back to basics with a ruthless 73 – 7 win over Bournville.
The home side made three changes to the team that fell to defeat in North Manchester, with Phil Mills returning to the side alongside the experienced David Fairbrother who was back in the mix after a six week absence.
Sam Fisher also made his debut on the wing in place of the injured Henry Hadfield, as coaches Chris Briers and Alex Loney were looking to keep the unbeaten home league record going.
Bournville had made a blistering start to the season, winning their first two before falling to a narrow 48 – 46 defeat to Rotherham in the third match. They came into the game off the back of three losses in a row, and player-coach Mitch McGahan was looking for a response now from his players.
It was also the first official league meeting between the two sides, and with Fylde sitting in 5th position in the league, and Bournville in 8th, it was going to be a vital game to win for both teams if either want to put themselves back in the play-off picture.
Greg Smith opened the scoring with a well worked move where he started it on the halfway line before Scott Rawlings broke the line and found Phil Mills who then offloaded back to Smith who went over to score.
Smith couldn’t convert his own try, but they were in again minutes later where it looked as though Ben Gregory had benefited from a strong drive from the lineout, when in fact Scott Rawlings had taken the ball off Gregory in the process and went over to score. This time Smith converted and Fylde had a 12 – 0 lead.
Fylde’s backline then combined with debutant Fisher finding Carleton who found Grimes who raced clear to score, Smith converted again.
Grimes then turned provider, as Rawlings burst clear before finding Grimes who then found the electric Carleton who wasn’t for catching, and went over to score.
Gregory then scored, before Carleton crossed off the back of a brilliant break by Smith, and with Smith converting both, it sent Fylde in a half-time leading 40 – 0.
Mr Blue Sky by the Electric Lights Orchestra was being played on the speakers at half-time which definitely wasn’t the case with the clouds hovering, and a better song to sum up the first half for the visitors would have been Things Can Only Get Better.
The second-half brought more of the same from the home side though, another Carleton break set-up Matt Sturgess to score, before Carleton broke clear from a Rawlings kick to complete his hat-trick and he converted his own try to make it 54 – 0.
The loss of prop Zack Barrow to the sin bin in the 51st minute made no serious difference to the balance of the match. Greg Smith was pulled off after suffering a knock at the same time and Adam Lanigan came off the bench to make a half-back partnership with Matt Sturgess.
It didn’t take Lanigan long to make his mark as he plunged over the line in the 64th minute for a good try.
The visitors got themselves on the scoreboard on 70 minutes when Ben Tibbetts backed up a break to cross for a deserved score.
McGahan converted, but Mills and Sturgess ran in further scores to get Fylde over the 70 points mark, and make the final score Fylde 73 – 7 Bournville.
The win meant Fylde moved up to 4th and took over as leading points scorers in the division with a total of 335 points.
They are still six points off the top, but they have managed to win a game which beforehand looked to be a tricky one.
Carleton was at his usual best, while Scott Rawlings was excellent in the centre with his superb attacking moves and big efforts in defence.
Sam Fisher slotted in on the wing with no problems, and David Fairbrother brought his high standards back to the pack with a polished performance which almost seemed as though he had never been away.
It’ll be a long time though before Fylde are back at The Woodlands again, they face away trips to Blaydon and Sheffield Tigers with a week off in between, before finally getting back for a home game on the 20th November when they’ll host 2nd placed Hull Ionians.
NB: Matt Sturgess’ 79th min try v Bournville RFC was Fylde’s 50th of season. In 4 home games, Fylde have scored 230 pts, at an average of 57.5 pts, with 36 tries, averaging 9 per game. Has this been exceeded by Fylde in league games at the Woodlands? We don’t think so.
Fylde Joint Head Coach Alex Loney said: “We are really pleased with the performance vs Bournville. The final score was unexpected, to be honest, as we know our opponents this week had threats and already have challenged the best teams in N2N. However, we back the ability of our players; the accuracy in attack was a pleasure to watch and we were well disciplined without the ball. There will be no time to get carried away and our attentions are now firmly on Blaydon, which will be another tough test.”
The coaches choice of Fylde’s man of the match was David Fairbrother.
Teams:
Fylde: Carleton, Fisher, Forster, Rawlings, Grimes, Smith (Lanigan 52), Sturgess, Kyle-Clay (Barrow 25), Gregory, Bowker (Ashcroft 25), Parkinson (Partington 59), Garrod, Blake (O’Ryan 59), Mills, Fairbrother.
Bournville: Williams, Dawkins (Raimondi 27), Wilson (Ho 46), Grove (Wilson 67), Walker, McGahan, Tibbetts, Burgoyne, Weaver (Burrows 27), Smeilus, Thompson (Handy 54), Holliday, Murphy (Fanning 60), Fanning (Weaver 40), Scriven.
Non-playing replacement: Payne.