Luctonians 15 vs Fylde 14
Fylde’s four match winning streak disappeared in the icy winds howling through the valleys of Herefordshire as Luctonians extended their own winning run to three games. Fierce and determined defence was the bedrock of the home team’s success, and in fairness Fylde could not complain about having to make the 160-mile trip home with a solitary losing bonus point which saw them slip to fifth place in the league.
Industry and effort were, as always, there in abundance from the Fylde team, but consistency and accuracy were not at the level the team and coaches strive for. Even when that is lacking Fylde can often create enough magic moments to get over line on the right side of the ledger. Credit must, however, go to the dogged home team for some excellent defensive strategies, particularly their game management in the closing stages of the game. Fylde’s team bus had to be diverted around a fallen tree across the road on the way to the match, this was perhaps an omen as they also struggled to find enough clear through routes in the Luctonians defensive structures.
Initially it did not appear Fylde would face what was to come as they raced into an early 7-0 lead, despite playing into the teeth of a Baltic, swirling and blustery wind. This lowered the single digit temperature even further, making handling, passing, and kicking difficult. Early pressure led to a third minute penalty 20 yards out in front of the sticks. The home defence was caught cold for the only time as second row forward Matt Garrod surprised everyone with a quick tap and go. He bumped off the first defender and galloped in for the opening try, converted by Greg Smith.
Lucs recovered from this early setback and started to use the wind to pin Fylde back in their own half. In the 14th minute two Fylde handling errors in quick succession gifted Lucs turnover ball and their powerful centre Frank Kelly sliced through on an arcing run to dot down. The conversion was missed by Owen Randell but he made no mistake with a 23rd minute penalty to edge the home team in front at 8-7. He missed a 35th minute penalty in the windy conditions and Fylde were then disrupted by an injury to Henry Hadfield. This forced them into a re-shuffle with Matt Sturgess coming on at scrum half, Adam Lanigan had to move to a much less familiar role on the wing. Fylde were happy to see the half out and get into the sheds still trailing by a single point.
Fylde made a change at the break bringing on Phil Mills for Ben O’Ryan. Mills has been one of Fylde’s consistently best performers all season. Unfortunately, on his first ball carry straight from the re-start he was stripped of the ball. This was a tactic Luctonians looked to employ all day, hold the Fylde ball carrier up for as long as they could and strip the ball if possible. They managed the latter 4 or 5 times and even when they didn’t, they succeeded in substantially slowing Fylde’s re-cycling ability down, meaning their defence was set and ready to pick off Fylde’s strike runners. Their cover defence was also outstanding, meaning any half breaks Fylde made never led to any clear offload opportunities, so often a source of Fylde’s try-scoring armoury.
From the ball strip Lucs forced their own line out 5 yards from Fylde’s line. A catch and drive was set up and as it inched towards the line Fylde were deemed to have collapsed it illegally. The referee had no hesitation awarding the penalty try. To compound matters centre Scott Rawling was sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes as the yellow card made its first, but not last, appearance of the day. Shortly afterwards Sam Kyle-Clay suffered a head knock and was replaced at prop by another youngster, Ethan Hulme. All in all, Fylde could not have made a worse start to the second stanza and trailed 15-7 despite the elements now being firmly in their favour.
Fylde made another change on 49 minutes as Charlie Partington replaced Marcus Blake. Luctonians, having gained a two-score advantage, sensibly kept their game simple given the conditions. Kicks to touch from the middle of the field were difficult for them into the wind so they ran hard, retained possession and when they didn’t have the ball defended stoutly, the onus being on Fylde to be creative enough to break their defence down. Fylde’s attempts to impose themselves could not be faulted but knock-ons, off-loads that went to ground and penalties conceded disrupted their rhythm. This meant they could never achieve a level of consistency that would allow them to play at a tempo that Lucs could not cope with.
On the hour mark Fylde did finally manage to create enough phases to stretch the home defence out of its usual shape. Charlie Partington spotted the gap and cut back inside to force his way over. Greg Smith mastered the tricky wind to add the conversion and it was game on with the score back to 15-14.
Fylde now needed to defend their own line and create one more moment that would give them a kick at goal or a try scoring opportunity. Luctonians, however, were determined to deny them this and upped their effort levels even more, desperate to claim a top three scalp after some narrow losses of their own this season. They continued to stifle, strangle, frustrate, and freeze Fylde out. Time ticked down, and in their attempts to force things to happen Fylde conceded more penalties and turnover errors.
Luctonians could now sense victory and Fylde’s cause was not helped by skipper Ben Gregory being yellow carded around the 70-minute mark for what was deemed a dangerous clear out at the ruck. Luctonians forced a scrum penalty and opted for repeat scrums forcing two more penalties as they wound the clock down. Fylde did manage to create one last turnover penalty with a minute left. Rather than opt for the kick to touch and line out they ran the ball but on the fourth phase the resolute home defence forced one last knock-on. This was perhaps a fitting end to a game which their defence had dominated. It is not often a team can so thoroughly stifle the creative ability Fylde usually show and the home team’s victory was a deserved one.
Coach Chris Briers commented; “We can’t have any complaints. The better team on the day won. In difficult conditions they had a very effective game plan and we never managed to hit the levels of consistency we aim for and are usually capable of. Added to that we couldn’t find enough of those moments we can often create even when we aren’t playing as well as we would like to. It is disappointing but we need to take it on the chin, dust ourselves off and get ready to go again, we have very tough games against two of the top four coming up in the next two weeks.”
While it was a disappointing long road trip, as coach Briers indicated above, Fylde have the perfect opportunity to put it right next week when top of the table Stourbridge visit. What better way to get a defeat like this out of the system than by ruining the only 100% record left in the league. It won’t be easy, but they have the tools to do so if they can hit the levels of tempo, accuracy, and consistency that they and their coaches know they are capable of. The challenge is to do just that.
Teams
Luctonians: 15 Morell; 14 Grimes, 13 Kelly, 12 Owen, 11 Bengry; 10 Burton, 9 Randell; 1 Deignan, 2 Link (White 22), 3 Murphy, 4 Harriott-Davis, 5 Smith, 6 Monkley (Forsythe 76), 7 Hackley, 8 Jones. Non-playing replacements: Hayler, Whiteman, Parkes
Fylde: 15 Foster, 14 Hadfield (Sturgess 36), 13 Carleton, 12 Rawlings, 11 Fisher; 10 Smith, 9 Lanigan; 1 Kyle-Clay (Hulme 42), 2 Gregory (Parker 70), 3 Bowker, 4 Parkinson, 5 Garrod, 6 Blake (Partington 49), 7 O’Ryan (Mills 41), 8 Fairbrother.
