Hull 22 vs Fylde 14: report by Simon Taylor
Fylde returned across the ‘Highway to Hull’ with nothing to show for their toils as they succumbed to a fourth away defeat at the hands of third placed Hull. Fylde remain in fifth place with the top five now showing some clear daylight from the rest of the league. There would likely be short odds on the top five being populated by anyone other than the current incumbents come the end of the season. The fact that they are all eminently capable of beating or losing to each other means the final pecking order will be a matter of fierce debate, on and off the pitch.
Fylde took the best points for record over to Hull to face the most miserly defence in the league. With Fylde averaging 37 points for and 19 against and Hull 26 for and 12 against there was inevitably going to be a clash of styles. The challenge was who could impose their game on the other and show that stats do bear themselves out. The end result showed both statistically and in the way the game unfolded that Hull managed to execute their plans on the day much more effectively than Fylde. Hull’s success was built on a huge and experienced pack, particularly in the front row. This resulted in a much higher penalty count, particularly at the scrum, also a possession bias that ultimately Fylde could not overcome.
Fylde conceded 18 penalties, 10 of these being scrum offences which led to 2 yellow cards in the front row. It would be hard to criticize the very young Fylde props who battled manfully against not just the two man-mountain starters for Hull, Tipiloma Kivalu and Michael Jobling, but also the two huge Hullensians Ben Boothman and Charlie Beech who came off the bench when the starters needed a rest. A team that can bring Beech off the bench, a 15-year former professional player who has Wasps and Bath on his CV, is clearly well-blessed in their front row assets. Corey Bowker in particular put in a great shift around the park being highly visible in the ball carrying and tackling departments. Joe Higgins and Matt Ashcroft contributed mightily to the cause as well in the face of formidable obstacles and Fylde did score the two best tries of the game, one a ‘worldy’. However, like the last away defeat at Luctonians, although the effort could not be faulted, Fylde were unable to produce an accurate enough display to create enough good possession or try scoring moments.
Hull kicked off and to set the re-start tone for the day they won the contest for the ball. They immediately camped in Fylde’s 22 and began to dominate possession. They earnt their first scrum penalty making a mess of Fylde’s put in and two more penalties followed, for a high tackle and offside. Fylde stood firm until the 7th minute when quick ball from their own scrum allowed Hull’s winger Michael Adlard space to score in the corner. The conversion was missed but Hull had the early lead at 5-0.
Fylde managed to get themselves into the game and force their first penalty on the Hull 10-yard line. Unfortunately, the first sign of inaccuracy with their own possession was in evidence as the kick for touch went dead, giving Hull the scrum back from where the kick was. Fylde were to learn the hard way that scrummaging was the one thing they did not want to give Hull the opportunity to do as this inevitably produced either clean, solid ball with the whole of the Fylde pack tied in, or worse still a penalty.
Apart from the scrum Fylde were defending stoutly and steadfastly. The Hull hooker had scored 4 catch and drive tries the previous week, but Fylde dealt with the Hull line-out very well, managing to negate the catch and drive. They stole a good share of the Hull throw-in with Matt Garrod and Ollie Parkinson also securing their own ball to at least give them a possession platform in that aspect of the set-piece game.
Fylde have never been afraid to run the ball from anywhere and with the scrum such a problem and possession in short supply they knew they would have to do so even more than usual. In the 23rd minute a loose pass near their own line put them under pressure for a moment. As is often the case, Tom Carleton retrieved the bobbling ball and made something out of nothing, taking the ball on up to the 22 and offloading to Tom Forster who was high tackled. With the penalty advantage giving Fylde a free play Greg Smith put in the cross-field kick. Tom Grimes competed well with two defenders not only to win the ball, but also to free his arms and offload to skipper Ben Gregory. Just when it looked like the cover defence would be able to force Gregory into touch, he also freed his arms and offloaded to Marcus Blake, who received his reward early for an excellent all-round display on the day by going over for the try. The eye-catching ‘coast to coast’ score was fitting giving Fylde’s travels from one coast across to t’other. Greg Smith’s conversion nudged Fylde in front at 7-5.
Sadly, the next Fylde action was to knock on attempting to gather the re-start, again handing their limited and precious possession back to Hull, who would have scrummaged all day if you had given them the option. Another penalty was almost inevitable and the kick to touch meant a five-yard line-out and catch and drive to defend. This Fylde managed, but after three forward drives Ben Boothman barged over for another unconverted try and Hull were immediately back in front at 10-7.
Fylde secured territory and good line out ball through Matt Garrod to allow Carleton and Scott Rawlings to take play into the Hull 22. Corey Bowker bounced and battered his way over the line only to be held up over the line, with the new laws this allowed Hull to clear their lines with the drop-out. Two knock-ons, another scrum penalty, a holding-on in the tackle penalty and being walked an additional 10 yards for back-chat all meant Fylde were unable to create any further scoring chances. Hull walked into the sheds with a narrow 3-point lead at half-time.
Fylde made a much better start to the second half than the first after re-gathering their thoughts and no-doubt being given a few things to think about by coaches Alex Loney and Chris Briers. Henry Hadfield spilled a kick but bravely threw himself to the ground to stop the kick through, re-gathered, got to his feet, and set off on a trademark abrasive all-action charge. Penalties to Fylde gave them a catch and drive line-out on the Hull line. This looked for all money to be going over before the ball appeared to be ripped on the ground by a defender, if so, he got away with it and Hull cleared their lines. This was only a temporary reprieve, though, as Fylde fashioned a neat and incisive blind side move from 30 yards out. Hadfield sped down the touchline, stepped inside to take the last defender with him and popped the ball for the supporting Tom Grimes to run in for another fine try, again converted by Smith. Despite the possession and penalty counts being against them Fylde had shown their mettle and were back in front at 14-10.
From the re-start it was Deja-vu and Achilles’ heel time all over again as Fylde went three for three on failed kick-off returns with another knock-on. The result, also Deja-vu, scrum, penalty, kick to corner. The catch and drive was repelled again but another scrum which collapsed meant the first yellow card of the day, the weight of scrum penalties forcing the referee to escalate the punishment. Matt Ashcroft, who had only just joined the fray, was sent to the naughty step cutting short Corey Bowker’s rest period. Ben Turner, only just on the pitch himself in place of Rawlings, was sacrificed from the back-line to keep the forward pack at a full complement, definitely the right call.
Determined defence kept Hull at bay with a home player held up over the line forcing a goal-line drop out. From this the very steady Hull fly-half Simon Humberstone inventively mixed the play with a deft chip to the corner. The cruel bounce of the ball went against the Fylde defence and home centre Stephen Johnson had enough space to squeeze in at the corner with an unsightly and unnecessary multi-player handbag session following it. A third difficult conversion was missed but Hull had edged back in front in the see-saw scoring at 15-14.
Back came Fylde pinching ball from the misfiring Hull line-out and Charlie Partington, who had an impressive game in one of his first starts for Fylde, took the ball to just inside the Hull 10-yard line with a strong carry, earning a penalty. Greg Smith’s attempt at goal would have given Fylde a narrow lead back but it slid just wide, to make matters worse Fylde knocked on the drop-out and gave a penalty away. This led to two more scrum penalties and the referee’s patience ran out again in the 67th minute, this time showing the yellow card to on-loan prop Joe Higgins, who has for sure had a baptism of fire since stepping up to the plate for Fylde. He will benefit from playing games like these against such experienced opposition. Corey Bowker, manfully, cut short another rest period to re-join the battle once again.
Hull had another scrum close to the Fylde line. This also collapsed but with the referee playing advantage Hull re-cycled the ball a couple of times and nobody could stop the physicality of prop forward Kivalu as he crashed over for the try. This one was finally closer to the props and Humberstone converted his first kick of the day to give Hull a crucial two score 22-14 lead with only 9 minutes left.
Fylde tried all they could to create a score that would at least give them a losing bonus point and were helped when the Hull second row Liam Regardsoe was yellow carded on 73 minutes. A fine midfield break from Tom Carleton was snuffed out and a Tom Grimes chip and chase was denied by the home defence, just. Hull cleared their lines and penned Fylde back on their own line with, thankfully, the last of a never-ending sequence of scrum penalties, not that you can blame them for using their most effective weapon so thoroughly. Fylde gamely tried to run it from their own line and were stopped in doing so by a high tackle by Kivalu. This led to the second 20 player dust-up of the day. Fortunately, if any genuine punches were thrown, none landed, and the referee calmed things down with a yellow card to Kivalu and one for Fylde’s Henry Hadfield for his part in the melee. What should have been Fylde’s penalty was reversed for the afters, and with time up and Hull already have gained the bonus point, they tapped the penalty, kicked to touch, and brought a fierce and at times feisty top of the table clash to an end.
Fylde coaches Loney & Briers were disappointed but as always, phlegmatic about the result and the performance. Their combined comments were: “We know we can beat anyone in this league, and we can do that even when on the wrong side of the possession count. However, to do that we have to be focused, disciplined and accurate. The scrum penalty count was clearly a problem but one way to negate that is through accuracy. There were too many knock-ons today which gave them the opportunity to scrummage too often, and other turnovers and inaccuracies did not allow us to build enough possession or rhythm to create enough scoring opportunities. When that happens, you are going to struggle to beat a top three team. We will pick the players up and look to finish the first half of the season off with a much more accurate performance next week at home to Chester.”
The Hull sponsors named David Fairbrother the Fylde man of his match for his robust ball carrying and defensive efforts, describing him as “a real thorn in our sides all day”. The Hull man of the match was Harvey Harding, usually a scrum-half who started the game playing out of position in the forwards at back row.
Teams:
Fylde: Forster, Grimes, Carleton, Rawlings (Turner), Hadfield, Smith, Sturgess, Higgins (Ashcroft), Gregory (captain), Bowker (Parker), Parkinson, Garrod (Bentley), Blake, Partington, Fairbrother
Non-playing replacements: Lanigan
Hull: Dean (McColl), Adlard, Trueman, Johnson, Naylor, Humberstone, Crane, Kivalu (Beech), Thomson, Jobling (Boothman/Dias), Jones, Regardsoe, O’Donnell (Cullen), Harding, Cowen.
