Fylde travel to Park Lane in Whitefields, North Manchester, on Saturday for another acute test of their N2N credentials this season (ko 14.30). Old friends and rivals Sedgley Park are having an outstanding start to the season and they sit proudly at the top of the table with the same number of points from their six matches as Rotherham Titans. They have scored heavily, winning five (21-51 at Harrogate, 26-43 at Wharfedale, 16-32 at Sheffield Tigers, 16-66 at Blaydon and 20-6 at home to Bournville) and drawing a tense battle with the Titans, 22-all, at Park Lane.
In scoring terms, both Sedge and Fylde have very similar records to date. 4th placed Fylde average 40 points per game, Sedgley 39. Both have scored the identical number of tries to date – 37 in six fixtures – a very healthy record indeed.
In recent seasons Fylde and Sedge have been Lancashire’s highest ranked clubs in the RFU league system. They have a close relationship built on mutual respect and in the context of their joint commitment to Lancashire county rugby. A number of players in the current squads have played for both clubs. Sedgley’s Steve Collins and Mark Goodman have made many appearances for Fylde. Fylde’s Chris Briers, Greg Smith and Olli Parkinson have spent seasons at Park Lane. Many of the other players know each other very well from Lancashire U’20s and senior squad duties.
Rather surprisingly, there have only been eleven previous league games between the clubs. These fixtures began in 2001 and the first four games up to 2003 were all won by Sedgley. The clubs then went their different ways, with Sedgley eventually elevated to the Championship (level 2) between 2004 – 2009 as Fylde slipped to level 4. Sedgley’s relegation to National One, and Fylde’s promotion to that division in 2011, brought the clubs together again in the period 2011 – 2013. The four games in this sequence were all won by Fylde but Sedgley’s relegation in April 2013 separated the clubs once more.
Fylde’s return to National Two (North) for the 2018-19 campaign brought them back together. Wins by each club that season, both away from home, was followed by Fylde’s tense 17-10 home victory in Dec 2019 before the abandonment of the league wiped out the Park Lane encounter. The RFU’s forecast of the written off last five weekends as the Covid-19 pandemic struck put Fylde in 2nd place in the division and Sedgley at 4th. The early weeks of this season suggest a similar tight contest in the top echelon.
The rise of the Tigers from the Northern regional leagues to the heights of the Championship where they survived for five heady seasons was a kind of fairy tale. Quality recruitment and coaching plus astute management off the field was the basis of this success. They achieved this without over stretching their financial resources, no mean achievement for a club which struggled to attract big crowds in football dominated Manchester.
The Tigers have been pushing for promotion from National Two (North) in the last seven seasons, twice finishing runners up yet losing the respective play-off games.
Their Head Coach is former Fylde favourite, Scott Barrow, who took over the reigns in 2019-20. Scott joined Fylde for the 2012-13 season after a highly distinguished career with St Helens RL, Worcester, Glasgow Warriors and Yorkshire Carnegie, and made 38 appearances in the claret & gold before retiring as a player at the end of the 2013-14 campaign. Scott is joined in the coaching group by another former Fylde player, Jonny Rodham, together with Dave Livesey and Steve Hazzleby
The Sedgley squad is characterised by loyalty and a deep commitment to the Club. This is summed up by the extraordinary service provided by, for instance, the so called ‘Sedgley Truck’, Matt Riley. The powerful centre has made more than 370 1st XV appearances for the club since 2005. From 2012 he has been accompanied in the Sedgley backline by full back or winger, brother Andrew, who himself ran up more than 200 appearances.
The current playmaker and principal goal kicker is former Fylde favourite, the mercurial and evergreen fly-half Steve Collins who has himself just made his 200th appearance for the Club. Local Fylde resident and former flanker/no 8 at the Woodlands, Mark Goodman, has become a very influential member of the Sedg pack.
The Tigers pack is traditionally powerful, with notable contributors such as props John Blanchard, Max Ashcroft and Ben Black, the outstanding lock Bob Birtwell who often partners Connor James in the 2nd row, and flanker Will Lees and no 8, Tom Ailes who moved to Park Lane in 2019 from Sale FC.
The dangerous backline includes speedy wingers Sam Lowthion and Jamie Harrison and major young talent, centre Ollie Glasse, who shares the goal kicking responsibilities with fly-half ‘Piggy’ Collins.