Fylde travel to Heywood Road on Saturday to take on Sale FC in their final pre-season game ahead of the first league match on 3rd Sept when Chester visit the Woodlands.
Sale had an excellent 2021-22 season in National One and narrowly missed out on promotion to the Championship as they agonisingly lost at rivals Caldy on the last day of the season. They’ve strengthened their squad with a number of recent high quality signings so will pose the most serious questions for the young Fylde line-up.
A year ago Sale visited the Woodlands for the equivalent match and were rather lucky to edge home by 27-29 through a late Chris Johnson penalty.
The Sale squad last season included a number of former Fylde players including Johnson, props Simon Griffiths and Dan Birchall, and lock Nick Gray. Others such as prop Cal Ford and Andrew Hughes have played for Fylde on a dual registered basis from Sale Sharks.
Newcomers include centres James Tincknell (ex-Wharfedale, Coventry, Leeds Carnegie, Hull Ionians & London Welsh) and Oskar Hirskyj-Douglas (ex-Bedford Blues, Loughborough Students & England 7s).
An interesting young player who has linked up with Sale FC is the talented Sharks Senior Academy backrower Yandhe Nkonge. 18 years old Yandhe was at Kirkham Grammar School and played for Fylde at U13s-U15s level. He’s been joined in the 2022-23 Senior Academy by Fylde & England U’18s star Tristan Woodman.
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Fylde will be encouraged by the performance of their extended squad against Blackburn last Saturday, especially new recruits Sam Stott, Peter Altham, Toby Harrison, James Robinson, Henry Higginson and Joe Corkish. They will select their squad after training on Thursday.