Chester 25 v Fylde 40: report by Simon Taylor
Fylde outscored a game Chester side 6 tries to 4 to rack up their 21st win from 25 starts in their penultimate game of a fine season. This 4th consecutive win inflicted a 4th consecutive defeat on Chester, but it was never a comfortable win. Chester were finishing their campaign at home, in front of a good crowd, and with three players playing their last first XV game they were motivated to push Fylde all the way. After conceding an early try Fylde then bossed the first half to lead 26-8 at the break, only to let Chester back into the game with the home team shading the second half by three tries to two.
Fylde made 3 changes to the starting XV from the home win over Otley. Adam Lanigan returned on the wing with Jordan Dorrington moving to full back. Zach Barrow came in at prop and Matt Garrod slotted back in at second row. Tom Carleton moved into a deadly centre combination with Connor Wilkinson as the heavy artillery of Scott Rawlings was kept in reserve on the bench. With skipper Ben Gregory not yet fit to return Sam Parker carried on deputising at hooker. Ben Gould kept the starting berth at scrum half.
On a fine dry day and a true 4G surface Fylde made the first incisive break in only the second minute as Tom Carleton broke the home defence. As Chester scrambled, they conceded the first penalty of the day and Greg Smith kicked to touch deep. Sadly, and unfortunately too familiarly, the line out went astray, and Fylde then conceded a penalty of their own. Chester’s line kicking was to be excellent all day gaining them huge swathes of territory whenever Fylde offended. The Chester set piece was also very solid all day in both departments, and their first line out led to phased play and their first scrum. A hefty pack shoved Fylde backwards and with and number 8 Luke Cox forced his way over. Gethin Long missed the conversion but after a promising start Fylde quickly found themselves 5-0 down from Chester’s first foray into their 22.
Fylde were pegged back deep again after a few handling errors and another penalty but slowly and gradually they found some fluency which paid dividends on 15 minutes. A strong midfield bust by Matt Ashcroft had Chester on the back foot and created an overlap on the left. The big miss pass went to ground but was re-gathered by Sam Parker, lurking out wide, much as Ben Gregory does, and he did well to shrug off not one but two high tackles and dive over wide out for his debut try. Greg Smith missed the conversion, but the scores were tied at 5 apiece and Fylde were into the game properly, so much so that they took the lead straight from the re-start. Adam Lanigan scythed down the right wing, fed galloping Matt Garrod and he in turn fed Ben Gould for another debut try. Smith goaled the conversion this time and Fylde took the lead at 12-5, a lead they would ultimately preserve throughout, even if it seemed they were trying their best not to at times.
Gethin Long reduced the arrears to 12-8 with a penalty on 21 minutes when Fylde’s scrum again buckled under pressure. The strengths and weaknesses of both teams were understandably dictating their style of play. With guaranteed and secure scrum and line-out ball Chester could go through the phases with their powerful runners without taking too much risk and look to stress the defence by relentless ball retention. For their part, Fylde, under pressure in the scrums and with a slightly misfiring line out, looked to be more adventurous and risk-taking in their play, with the desire to try offloads and make line breaks a natural part of their philosophy and rugby DNA in any case. It always makes for an entertaining spectacle.
In the twenty-minute period leading up to half time Fylde had their best spell of the game. On 26 minutes the mercurial and wonderfully gifted Connor Wilkinson stepped his opposite centre and glided through, he then sensibly slowed up to allow his support to catch up, drew the full back and put Toby Harrison in the clear 40 yards out. Harrison looked for someone to score the try for him as, wide eyed, he calculated the distance to the try line, but with nobody near enough decided he had better score it himself, strained his sinews to keep just out of reach of the ever-nearing defenders and made a lung busting dash for the score. Smith converted and Fylde were 19-8 ahead.
Chester were still gaining some scrum penalties and territory with the kicks to touch. Fylde managed to hold one catch and drive up over the line. The challenge was to reduce the error count to avoid scrums, stop giving cheap penalties away by being over eager on the offside line, and use their own ball quickly and effectively. On 37 minutes Fylde did the latter as Wilkinson took a quick tap penalty on halfway and broke the defensive line once more with lovely dancing feet and a hip swerve. It was déjà vu as he drew the full back and this time put Greg Smith under the post, for a try he converted to make it 26-8 at the break.
Third quarter malaise has been a sporadic theme of concern for Fylde this season and it happened again on Saturday as they conceded just after the re-start. Chester fashioned an overlap far too easily on the left and full back Sean Green finished the move off in the corner to reduce the arrears to 26-13. There then followed 15 minutes of helter-skelter, million miles an hour rugby from Fylde who had plenty of chances in the Chester 22 but lacked that final bit of patience or accuracy to convert the chances into points. Knock-ons or misplaced offloads frustrated their attempts to add to their points tally, and their fans attempts to avoid heart palpitations. Chester remained more methodical in their approach and on 58 minutes scored a fine try. Ben Ivory chipped over the Fylde back line, re-gathered and forged into Fylde’s 22, his support play looped not once but twice, and George Baxter dived in for the score wide right. It was fortunate for Fylde that neither of the third quarter tries were converted and that they still held a 2-score lead at 26-18.
Fylde were creaking at the seams somewhat but were once again indebted to a moment of class from Wilkinson, as he timed his intervention to perfection, snaffled a Chester pass 40 yards out, shrugged off two despairing tackle attempts and cantered under the posts, Smith converting to restore the 15-point lead at 33-18. Having regained the breathing space Fylde then produced another loose offload, compounded by a penalty, and found themselves defending another line out 10 yards from their line. Chester finally executed the catch and drive to perfection with hooker Alick Croft the try scorer. This one was converted by Oscar Malick and yet again it was back to an 8-point game at 33-25.
Fylde knuckled down, knowing another Chester score would mean a nervous finale to the game. They created 5 minutes of good pressure and Dave Fairbrother chose the right moment to pick and go as the ruck defence fanned out. He found replacement scrum half Cole Potts in support, and with one man to beat Potts stepped him perfectly to leave the path to the whitewash clear. Smith’s conversion made it 40-25 after 74 minutes and Fylde were able to see the last stages out without any further drama.
Fylde’s ability to create enough magic moments in amongst the periods where they struggle for accuracy, tempo, set-piece structure and overall fluency is one of the joys, as well as the frustrations, of watching them. In all honesty you can’t have one without the other if you want to watch the type of rugby Fylde play, even if it might prematurely age the coaching staff, management team or loyal fan.
Against Otley a week previously Connor Wilkinson was man of the match with Toby Harrison a whisker away. This time the roles were reversed as Harrison took the honours, even his little juggling act late on when he looked to fool the defence by passing the ball in the air to himself and promptly knocked on did not detract from yet another fine performance.
Coach Chris Briers commented: “We started slowly, and Chester got their strong driving game going which gave them momentum. We wanted the lads to dictate the tempo, keep the ball in play and stretch them. When we managed to look after the ball we created some good opportunities, made breaks, the support play was good and we were finishing the opportunities, especially in the last 20 minutes of the first half. We do need to learn how to manage the lulls better and not give the opposition chances when we don’t have the ball. All in all, it was a good performance, Chester is never an easy place to go to and after narrowly beating them at home we’ve had a better points margin win away to complete a league double over a good team.’
Fylde have one game left to complete the season, away at Huddersfield next week. With second place secured already coaches Alex Loney and Chris Briers will be challenging the squad to finish the season in the style they have played pretty much all their games. The motivation to do so is there, a final bonus point win would leave Fylde with 22 wins, 1 draw, 3 losses and 111 league points. In any year that would probably be enough to win the league, which shows just how well Sedgley Park have played this season to take the title.
Fylde: Dorrington, Grimes, Carleton, Wilkinson, Lanigan (Rawlings 48), Smith, Gould (Potts 48), Barrow (Bell 25), Parker (Barrow 43), Ashcroft (Bowker 25/Bell 64), Parkinson (Robinson 73), Garrod, Harrison, Higginson, Fairbrother
Chester: Green, Craven (Ryder), Lewtas, Ivory, Long, Malik, Holloway, Woods (Robson), Croft, Williams (Furnival), Spalding, Lloyd (Byrne), Joseph, Owen, Cox (Baxter)
