Otley 46 v Fylde 22: match report by Simon Taylor
Fylde’s latest away day in Yorkshire was a chastening one as they fell to their heaviest ever defeat to Otley, outscored 6 tries to 4 and decidedly outplayed in most facets of the game. Two late tries from skipper Ben Gregory, one coming from the final play of the game, salvaged a crumb of comfort in the shape of a try bonus point, but it was a meagre crumb indeed, on a day they will want to put behind them as quick as possible.
Things started badly when Jordan Dorrington snuffed out an Otley attack with an intercept but was injured in the process and limped off, Alex Clayton replacing him. On 5 minutes Fylde failed to clear out at the carry and Otley earned a penalty, converting that into a try two phases later as Sam Waddington burst through in midfield and ran in for the opening try, Joe Rowntree converting for a 7-0 lead to Otley. Back came Fylde on 16 minutes when Otley suffered a yellow card and Tye Raymont forced his way over wide right after a good line out take from Oli Parkinson. Greg Smith’s conversion was just wide, but Fylde were back to 7-5 down. Sadly, that was to be their only score of the half as line out inaccuracy and poor defence cost them dearly.
Every time Fylde gifted possession to Otley they were made to pay for it. On 22 minutes the Otley left winger made 3 Fylde defenders miss way too easily and fed inside to Clark Wells who danced though the cover for Otley’s second try. On the half hour things got worse as another misfired line out ultimately resulted in Ed Crossland weaving over from 25 yards out. With Joe Rowntree converting both tries Fylde found themselves 21-5 down at the half time hooter and struggling to create any sustained fluency or pressure.
A much better second half would be required but things did not start well as Fylde conceded a breakdown penalty on 42 minutes, knocked over by Joe Rowntree to make it 24-5. The deficit ballooned out further on 48 minutes when a very simple try was conceded from a scrum, after two quick wide passes saw Clark Wells in for his second try, and Fylde were staring down the barrel at 29-5 down.
Fylde finally found some accuracy and zip to their play, skipper Ben Gregory floating a rainbow pass out wide to Ben Turner who fed replacement Freddie Deeks on the inside, and he did well to crash over through heavy traffic for Fylde’s second try. Greg Smith nailed a lovely conversion from wide out and Fylde wondered if they had a sniff of a way back in at 29-12 down. Those comeback hopes lasted a full 2 minutes as Fylde conceded a penalty straight from the restart and centre Gavin Stead took over the kicking duties to belt the kick over, 32-12.
Stead wasn’t finished there as, 5 minutes later, he finished off another midfield break, and converted his own try, and the score was getting out of hand as Otley forged 36-12 ahead. Not content with that, the home team took just another 4 minutes to extend the lead further, as Louis Martin scored the sixth try for the Yorkshiremen, Stead converting once more. With an hour gone Otley had moved the score out to 46-12 and were eyeing a half century, Fylde out of sorts and in danger of complete capitulation. Injuries weren’t helping either, with Greg Smith, Sam Parker, Ethan Hall-Lyon and Toby Harrison all leaving the field or carrying on as walking wounded at various points.
With 20 minutes left and pride at stake Fylde, to their credit, found a way to rescue something from the game. Despite having multiple players out of position including at one set piece Scott Rawlings at stand off and two hookers in Ben Gregory and Sam Parker at centres, they managed to wrestle their way back into proceedings. Penalties were forced and Otley, despite their scoreboard supremacy, incurred a second yellow card. On 68 minutes the catch and drive 5-yard line out was set up and Ben Gregory marshalled his troops to smuggle him over for Fylde’s third try. Robbie Kincart made his debut from the bench and, keeping Otley at bay, Fylde manufactured a carbon copy with the last move of the game, and Gregory’s second try earnt them a bonus point that made the bus trip home ever so slightly less painful.
Fylde can have no complaints about the final score. Otley executed a simple, no-nonsense game plan very well indeed, running hard, defending well, and kicking deep when needed, then pressurising Fylde into errors. Fylde’s struggles on their own line out ball cost them dearly and their first up defence was as porous as it has been for some while. It was their worst day at the office for a long time. They are, and know they are, a much better team than this showing, and they will look to get their wounded bodies and wounded pride restored to normal service next week at home to struggling Hull Ionians. This was a game best put behind you as quickly as possible, the less said the better, even the best teams have an occasional off day, it is how you bounce back that shows your true qualities.
Coach Alex Loney commented; “We are disappointed with the result. The two teams matched up well in terms of ability to exploit width, be confrontational, and play some good rugby. Unfortunately for us they had periods where they were on top, and some poor defence let them get a couple of scores ahead. We were chasing the game from there on in. We got some respectability back with the bonus point, but with 4 games left we have to make sure we don’t let the season peter out, that will take hard work. I am sure the lads will re-group, we must take this result on the chin and will work hard in the week to get over the disappointment and get ready to put it right next week.”
Fylde:
Dorrington (Clayton 5); Turner, Stott (Parker 62), Rawlings, Lanigan; Smith (Kincart 67), Gould; Bowker (Brooks 61), Gregory (c), Raymont, Garrod, Parkinson, Parker (Hall-Lyon 31, Deeks 47), Bentley, Harrison..
Otley:
Holmes, Dinsdale, Wells (Martin), Stead, Graham, Crossland, Rowntree (Gaffney), Nicholls, Gibson (Mudd), Moss (Baxter), Johnson (Bowen), Preston-Routledge, Waddington, Mullin, Malthouuse
