Sedgley Park 30 Fylde 20: report by Simon Taylor
The undoubted match of the day in Division 2 North saw table toppers Fylde take their unbeaten record to Park Lane, home of Sedgley Tigers, also boasting 8 wins from 8. Only 4 bonus points separated the two teams at start of play, so inevitably something had to give. When the dust settled Sedge had shaded a tight contest and Fylde’s advantage had evaporated faster than the persistent rain that made ball handling and retention difficult. Despite the conditions causing some inevitable errors, both teams put on a quality display in an uncompromising and hard-fought battle between two very good squads. With three tries apiece it was the 100% goal kicking and all-round wet weather wizardry game management of former Fylde favourite Steve Collins that proved to be the difference. Fylde were unlucky not to bring back a losing bonus point, their efforts certainly deserved some reward and in most other games would have brought back a full 5 league points.
With Tom Carleton, Pete Altham and Matt Sturgess unavailable coaches Alex Loney and Chris Briers shuffled the deck for the biggest test yet. Adam Lewis, skipper Ben Gregory and Corey Bowker fronted up the pack with Olli Parkinson and Harlan Corrie brothers in arms in the second row. Dave Fairbrother at eight had young guns Tristan Woodman and Toby Harrison in the back row with him, Adam Lanigan had shaken off a shoulder knock to partner Greg Smith in the half backs. Big ball carrier and chief of the banter brigade Scott Rawlings was partnered by gain line buster Connor Wilkinson in the centres, with Tom Grimes and Ben Turner on the wings, and Jordan Dorrington at full back. Joe Higgins came on to the bench to join the Matts Ashcroft and Garrod, Henry Higginson and Sam Stott.
As stated, conditions were difficult on a grey day with rain, sometimes very heavy, on and off throughout the game. Fylde started well before the first knock on off the day gave Sedge their first possession. They used this well to force some phases resulting in second row Connor James crashing over after only 4 minutes, converted by Collins for an early 7-0 lead. Fylde’s two poorest performances of last season had come against Sedge and the travelling faithful could have been forgiven for feeling nervous. This squad, however, has a steelier side to it, and they were not fazed by this early setback. On 12 minutes Fylde earned a penalty and kicked to touch on the sedge 22. Ben Gregory hit Harlan Corrie and quick ball off the top saw the back line run a lovely set move, Conor Wilkinson feeding Tom Grimes in off the blind side wing into a gap for the try. Smith’s conversion failed but Fylde were on the board at 7-5 down.
Fylde now settled into the game and Tristan Woodman earnt a wonderful turnover penalty, one of countless already this season. Unfortunately, on 19 minutes Fylde suffered an injury setback when Tom Grimes rushed in off his wing to foil an overlap. He managed this but got his tackle technique wrong and the head on hip collision saw him prone for some time. He was able to leave the field under his own steam but was to play no further part in proceedings, Sam Stott coming on at centre with Wilkinson moving to full back and Dorrington on to the wing. Fylde pressed again with a fine 50/22 kick from Smith earning them the line out throw. As they stretched the home defence Sedge second row Bob Birtwell was sin binned on 24 minutes for tackling the man without the ball and Smith nudged Fylde in front 8-7 with the penalty kick, only for Collins to put Sedge back ahead 10-8 with one of his own 3 minutes later.
The battle for possession and territory raged on, each team having their moments but both defences holding out. The war of attrition saw Fylde suffer a second injury setback on 28 minutes when the increasingly impressive Woodman had to leave the field, Henry Higginson entering the fray. Sedge earned a 50/22 of their own which Fylde negated and Adam Lewis took a breather making way for Matt Ashcroft. In the 37th minute Fylde earned a penalty on halfway, kicked into the Sedge 22 and Olli Parkinson this time provided clean line out ball. Fylde probed and stretched the home defence before Greg Smith’s pin-point cross-field kick landed straight in the Ben Gregory breadbasket for him to dot down. The touchline conversion failed but Fylde had secured a narrow 13-10 half-time lead.
The second half saw Fylde with a slope advantage as Sedge brought on another Fylde old boy Danny Maher, showing the strength in depth they have. He replaced the marvellously named Corbin Thunder, former Wasps academy player, plying his trade at Sedge at present due to the unfortunate demise of his former employer. It is one thing, however, to have a slope at your advantage, the challenge is to secure enough quality ball to take advantage of it. Slowly but surely Sedge set about denying Fylde any quality possession or territory. Scrum half Jacob Tansey used the box kick option to good effect and there is no better mover of a team around the pitch than the pocket rocket Steve Collins. Fylde benefited from his skill in this area on many occasions in the past but were on the wrong end of it in the second stanza on Saturday. He released his runners wisely and kicked Fylde into the corners when the time was right, forcing them to try to run or kick from deep, not easy in such difficult weather conditions. As a result, Fylde began to lose the territory battle, finding it hard to exit their own half effectively.
A Sedge catch and drive looked for all money to be rolling over for a try until Adam Lanigan somehow got under the ball carrier forcing a goal line drop out. The respite was only temporary, however, as Collins edged Sedge back in front 13-10 with a penalty on 54 minutes. The Tigers now had their tails up and forced another penalty to set up the catch and drive once again on 60 minutes. This time the attempts to defuse this were deemed illegal and a penalty try was awarded, with the inevitable yellow card being shown to Harlan Corrie. Fylde were 20-13 down and a man down to boot. Rather than demoralise them, this served to galvanise, and on 62 minutes they scored the try of the game. From a penalty just inside his own half Connor Wilkinson took the quick tap and go, and went, and went, and went, tacklers falling off him as his strength and ability to make men miss saw him run the full length under the posts, showing skills to pay the bills for an excellent score. Smith converted and Fylde were level again at 20 points apiece.
Sedge brought on the equally marvellously monikered Beltus Nonleh and he lived up to his name as he belted holes in the Fylde defence on the 65th minute, leading to a simple penalty kick which Collins knocked over to put Sedge back in front at 23-20. Fylde held parity until Corrie’s sin bin was reversed and desperately sought the next score which was always going to be crucial. Fylde to a man battled manfully, running and tackling hard, but another penalty on 77 minutes was despatched to the corner once again by Collins and the catch and drive set up. This time former Fylde man and try machine Danny Maher was smuggled over and the conversion from Collins made it 30-20 to Sedge with just a few minutes left.
Credit to both teams the final few minutes were exciting as first Sedge kept the ball alive looking for a fourth try bonus point as they battered the Fylde defence. Fylde resisted and earnt a penalty with time up, but they kept the ball alive as well, knowing a penalty would give them a losing bonus point, and better still a fourth try would give them two. Sedge’s defence was up to the task, however, and they forced a handling error to see the game out.
Fylde can feel unlucky to have come home empty-handed, but they should be proud of their efforts, this was an excellent game between two well matched teams. Both now sit on 40 points with Sedge top due to them remaining unbeaten. Hull Ionians are third on 34 points and Rotherham fourth on 31 points. Fylde have played all 3 of those teams away from home and won 2 of those games. They will look forward to playing them at The Woodlands, with the games between the current top four likely to determine who end up top of the pile come the end of the season.
Coach Chris Briers commented: “It was a tough game today, which we expected. We started shakily but grew into the first half which I felt we dominated, and we felt confident at half time. In the second half too many mistakes in contact disrupted our flow. Sedge have the best defence in the league, we knew they would pressure us, when we made mistakes it meant we couldn’t do the things we wanted to do with the ball that we had done in the first half. The effort and industry were there but we needed a higher level of accuracy against a team like Sedge in what was always going to be a tight one. We will look forward to the re-match in March, dust ourselves off and go again when Huddersfield visit us next week.”
Teams
Fylde: Dorrington, Grimes (Stott 19), Wilkinson, Rawlings, Turner, Smith, Lanigan, Bowker (Lewis 60), Gregory (c), Lewis (Ashcroft 31), Parkinson, Corrie (Garrod 76), Woodman (Higginson 28), Harrison (Garrod 76), Fairbrother.
Unused replacement: Higgins
Sedgley Park: Riley A, Henderson, Glasse, Riley M, Harrison (Kucera), Collins, Tansey, Blanchard, Thunder (Maher), Chilvers (Black/Nonleh), Birtwell, James, Goodman, Bentley (Crowe), Ailes
