Fylde travel to West Yorkshire to take on Huddersfield RUFC on Saturday (ko 14.15). Lockwood Park, despite the spectacular viaduct overlooking the ground, isn’t a particularly favourite venue for the visitors, having lost 4 of the 6 matches played there. Overall, Fylde have the bragging rights, with 8 victories, 4 defeats (all at Lockwood Park) and one draw.
After a disappointing 2021-22 season when, after finishing one from the bottom of the table, ‘Field were spared relegation because of the reorganisation of the National Leagues, they began the 2022-23 campaign in a similar vein. 6 straight defeats were devastating and just two wins out of the first ten fixtures set them back on their heels. Their season turned on 3rd December when they had a clear home victory over Tynedale and 6 more wins in the next 7 games saw them markedly climb the division.
An away win at Chester and home victories against Hull Ionians and Rotherham demonstrated their quality. So they will welcome Fylde on Saturday with lots of confidence, especially as the Lancashire side has lost their last two away fixtures at Otley and Tynedale. Field sit currently in 11th place in the division, with 9 wins and 11 losses.
Fly-half Will Milner is Field’s leading points scorer with 161, ranked 6th in N2(N), 12 points behind Greg Smith. Flanker Lewis Bradley is the leading try scorer with 6.
Fylde’s Coaches will no doubt try to guard against a falling off in performance after the gruelling, bruising draw at home to Sedgley Park last time out. It’s doubtful that their injury position will have changed much in a week although Adam Lanigan might be fit to return to the squad.
