Fylde welcome Chester to the Woodlands on Saturday (ko 15.00) in the opening match of the 2022-23 National League season, only the seventh ever meeting of the clubs in league competition. For two well established North West clubs, it’s surprising that since the establishment of leagues in the 1980s the respective 1st XVs hadn’t met before the 2018-19 season.
In discussions concerning the restructuring of the National Leagues, there was a possibility that Chester would be allocated to National Two (West). This would have meant that they would have to travel to clubs in the far south west such as Redruth, Barnstable and Exeter University. Common sense prevailed and they remain with their Northern friends!
Fylde have edged the bragging rights in the six matches between the clubs to date. In the 2018-19 season they won at Hare Lane (5-16) but lost at the Woodlands (19-27). The last two seasons have seen three victories for the Lancastrians plus one draw – 42-17 & 15-51 in 2019-20 and 40-10 & 20-20 last season.
Replicating this success in the current campaign will be as difficult as ever and, indeed, the Fylde squad will need to be equally vigilant on Saturday if they hope to start the new season with a win.
In the period from 2002 until 2013, Chester were almost always competing in North One, level 5 in the RFU league structure. They had an outstanding campaign in 2012-13 when they finished as champions of National Three (North) and were promoted to National Two (North). They have performed very well since then, finishing 5th, 5th, 11th, 5th, 7th, 2nd, 6th and 11th last season.
Chester’s Head Coach is the very well known and respected former player Jan van Deventer and he has a very stable squad of players. The power of the Chester pack has been amply demonstrated in recent seasons. The try scoring records of principal forwards such as no 8 Guy Ford and hooker Alick Croft speak for themselves. Ford was one of the most experienced and influential players in the squad and has made going on for 200 appearances for the Club as well as moving to a coaching role most recently. He previously had spells with Bradford & Bingley and Otley and has extensive representative honours for Cheshire.
Ford has been joined in the backrow in recent seasons by the free scoring Shay Owen (who can also play in the backline), powerful flanker George Baxter and the mobile young talent Luke Cox. In the engine room is the skipper, influential lock skipper Harry Wilkinson and he’s often joined by Jonny Charmley. A strong front row roster includes props Josh Woods, Wade Williams, Tom Furnival and hooker Scott Robson.
The well established backline stars high try scoring wing Harrison Vare, Welsh newcomer last season at fullback Gethin Long (formerly with Bethesda), experienced centre Sean Green and very dangerous centre or flyhalf Iwan Phillips.
The halfbacks are usually playmaker and goal kicking fly-half Liam Reeve and former Sedgley Park (and Maltese international!) scrum-half Tom Holloway. Reeve was the 5th ranked N2N scorer last season with 210 points behind leader Greg Smith on 278.
The Fylde squad is below. Sam Stott makes his league debut for the Club whilst Jordan Dorrington & Toby Harrison return to Club’s starting line-up following 5 & 4 years gaps respectively. The pack relatively unchanged from last season. Peter Altham has been ruled out through injury.
