Sheffield 34 v Fylde 28: match report by Simon Taylor
Fylde suffered more away day woes as they fell to a fourth straight road trip defeat. There must be a sense of déjà vu developing as they once again showed great spirit to recover from a slow start, where Sheffield built up a 17-point lead, to roar back into the game in the second half and overhaul the hosts, only for Sheffield to score 10 points in the last few minutes and snatch the victory. Both teams scored 4 converted tries, in the final analysis it was 2 penalties that made all the difference. Two bonus points were some reward for a plucky performance, but Fylde will want to reverse the trend of being the nearly men and losing games narrowly. Of their six defeats this season, four have been by less than seven points, and in all four of those games Fylde have held the lead in the last 10 minutes, only to have the win snatched away, or in truth, sometimes, to have let it slip away.
On a lovely sunny, dry day, Fylde withstood some early pressure from the big Sheffield pack and pounced on Sheffield’s first error of the day. In the 9th minute a spilt ball in the centres was kicked through by debutant teenage centre Freddie Reader, who had a promising first game, and he controlled the ball over the line and dived on it for the opening try. Greg Smith converted and Fylde, somewhat against the run of play, had a 7-0 lead. It was a lead that didn’t last long, however, as just four minutes later Sheffield’s hefty centre William Smith’s powerful carry saw him bounce two would-be tacklers off to go over for a converted try to level the scores.
Fylde were struggling to exit their own territory and big, physical ball carriers honed from Sheffield steel began to grind away at the Fylde defensive line. Some stout defence, including a huge hit from the slightly built Alex Clayton on one monster Yorkshireman kept the home team at bay for a while but the pressure was unrelenting. A raft of penalties followed, the referee’s arm only going in one direction for most of the first half. Elliott Fisher knocked one over in the 18th minute to give Sheffield the lead at 10-7 and the rest of the time Sheffield employed the tried and trusted kick to touch, catch and drive tactic. In the 24th minute this reaped further reward as the home pack rumbled over from fully 12 yards, Ianto Jones the last man up. Fisher converted again and Sheffield were 17-7 up.
Fylde finally managed to gain penalties of their own and some field position and possession to go with it. A 5-yard line out on their own ball unfortunately misfired and right on half time a quick tap and go penalty looked to have got Fylde back into it only for the Fylde player to be penalised for lowering his body height too much as he surged for the line, a penalty that is going to become more prevalent under the new laws, and is likely to lead to much debate, as it did on this occasion. It meant Fylde went into the sheds still 17-7 down, but in truth, Sheffield could, and probably should have been further ahead given their dominance of territory, possession and the penalty count in the first 40 minutes.
Fylde’s struggles did not ease in the opening period of the second half. Penalties against them continued, and with another advantage being played, the ball was shipped to Sheffield’s man of the match Ryan Burrows, and he scattered the away defence as he ran in from 20 yards out. Fisher’s conversion made it 24-7, and it looked as if the tide could not be turned, and a shellacking might be on the cards. However, Fylde, while they might be lacking in the same firepower they had last season and are still waiting for some big guns to return from injury, are certainly not lacking in spirit, effort and resolve. Once again, they knuckled down and showed their appetite to battle their way back into a game.
Fylde grafted mightily to exert some stress and strain on the home defence. Having had things their own way for a long time, it was time for Sheffield’s defensive capabilities and discipline to be tested. Both started to show signs of creaking and the referee’s arm started to go in the other direction. On 57 minutes a penalty kick to touch, 5-yard line out take by the towering teenage lock Tom Burrow and a well-engineered drive saw number eight Toby Harrison dot down. Greg Smith converted, and Fylde were back in it at 24-14 down.
The game got spikier, and Fylde upped the tempo. Scrum half Ben Gould had spent much of the first half trying to dig the ball out of the breakdown with a shovel as Fylde struggled to clear out the defenders and provide him with good, quick ball. This part of the game improved noticeably and suddenly Gould could give his runners better ammunition to work with. Sheffield were scrambling more and taking more liberties as they did so.
On 58 minutes Sheffield flanker Charles Flinders was yellow carded for a breakdown offence and Fylde kicked to touch. A series of drives followed and with another penalty advantage being played Toby Harrison forced his way over from close range for his second try. To make things worse for Sheffield, the referee yellow carded Ryan Burrows and Greg Smith kicked a lovely conversion from the touchline. Fylde were now well and truly back in it at 24-21 down and with 15 playing 13 for the next 7 minutes. From being in seemingly total control Fylde had forced Sheffield’s game management to go awry, along with their discipline.
Fylde now turned the screw while they had a healthy numerical advantage. They turned down a very kickable penalty on 70 minutes and went for touch instead. The line out machine clicked into gear again and this time Fylde’s man of the match, the skipper, burglar Ben Gregory, was not letting Harrison get his hands on the ball for his hat-trick as he smuggled his way over. Smith converted again and just before the two yellow cards were reversed Fylde had got their noses back in front at 28-24, with just 10 minutes left.
Credit to Sheffield, the home team managed to gather themselves and get their discipline and strategy back on track before it was too late. A few crucial penalties went their way, and they engineered their own line out five out. Fylde chose not to compete at the throw in but could not force an error or turnover and Reece Bartlett scored the home team’s fourth try, converted again by Fisher. With barely a minute left Sheffield had edged back in front again at 31-28.
Fylde had one last chance to try to force a penalty to tie things up or a try to win it. Unfortunately, at the re-start, Tom Burrows was adjudged to have played the man in the air rather than be genuinely competing for the ball, and he was somewhat unluckily yellow carded. The penalty was kicked deep, Fylde then conceded another penalty at the next play, and Fisher used the remaining seconds wisely to knock the kick over. With no time to re-start Sheffield had closed the game out at 34-28.
Fylde were left rueing another slow start and poor end to a game, and another winnable game had slipped away. There is no lack of effort and endeavour, however, and they will keep battling to turn these narrow defeats into wins. Their competitive nature is evident by the fact they have 11 try and losing bonus points, 2 more than any other team in the league. Coaches Alex Loney and Chris Briers have some long-term injuries back training now and will look forward to having more strength in depth in the weeks to come.
Alex Loney commented: “Sheffield are a good team with a lot of threats. In the first half we could not get into our flow and penalties and mistakes meant we had to do too much defending. The lads then did tremendously well to get back into a winning position and it was disappointing to cough up possession in the last few minutes and give Sheffield the chance to score the winning try. In the end we put ourselves under too much pressure for too long in the game, with too many back-to-back penalties. We will keep working hard to look for the accuracy and discipline that will turn these games into wins, we have enough quality on the park to do that.”
Teams:
Fylde: S. Carleton, Turner (Lanigan 53), Clayton, Reader, Dorrington, Smith, Gould, Bowker (Altham 62), Gregory (Captain), Raymont (Brooks 62), Garrod (Burrow 47), Parkinson, Hall-Lyon, Harrison, Bentley (Parker 47)
Sheffield: Kimpton, Catleugh, Flint, Smith, Hooper, Posa (West 53), Fisher, Whitney (Lonsdale 47), Jones (Bartlett 53), Hicklin (Rogers 40), Crapper, Parsons, Flinders, Hignell (Adcock 47), Burrows