Sheffield 38 v Fylde 19: report by Simon Taylor
A re-vamped and re-booted Fylde 2024-25 squad, showing more turnover than pancake day, was handed what looked like a tough start to their league campaign as they travelled across the border into Yorkshire to take on Sheffield, who finished third in National Two (North) last season. And, sure enough, tough it proved to be, Fylde enduring a torrid first half hour of near constant defending, conceding 3 tries and 2 yellow cards, as they found themselves 21-0 down. This was, ultimately, to prove too big a mountain to climb, but Fylde stuck to their task and showed lots of spirit as they edged the remainder of the contest, narrowly missing out on a try bonus point with the last move of the game.
With only 8 players from the last match day squad of last season involved, 8 players making their league debut, and 1 making his second debut after many years playing ‘down the road’, the challenge was to gel quickly, against a team who have improved year on year and have a strong squad. Fylde’s long-serving skipper Ben Gregory had moved on over the summer, and this was new skipper Toby Harrison’s first league game in charge. The number 8, 9, 10 and 15 spots were all filled by debutants, a big challenge and a big ask to have to blood new players all at once in those pivotal positions, from where the ship is steered.
Things started badly for Fylde when, from the kick off, Sheffield’s talismanic number 8 Ryan Burrows made a typically muscular carry. Fylde’s hooker Sam Parker bravely got in the way but took a heavy knock in doing so and was unable to continue. With barely a minute on the clock Fylde were forced into a change, both in personnel and position. Local lad Rob King’s rise from the Vandals to the 1st XV was complete, as he came on at prop, with Ollie Trippier, making his second debut, moving to hooker. King may have wondered if he was going to get limited game time, instead he was handed a baptism of fire very early, in which he did himself and the team proud, until a knock forced him off after 50 minutes of hard graft.
Sheffield started with purpose and accuracy and dominated possession, strong and accurate ball carrying earning them penalties and territory. It looked like Harrison had broken up one move with a big hit, but it was ruled high, and the referee looked to send a message out by yellow carding the Fylde skipper in just the 6th minute. Oddly, perhaps, no further high tackle in the game, for either team, was escalated beyond the sanction of a penalty. Fylde defended well initially but on 13 minutes Sheffield pinched a scrum against the head and Burrows set off on the charge, he was hauled down just short of the line, but Sheffield chose the right time to spin the ball wide and centre Will Smith touched down to open the scoring, scrum half Elliott Fisher converting to make it 7-0.
Sheffield continued to exert a stranglehold on the game and stress the Fylde defence, which showed its mettle, particularly close to the line. Pressure tells though, and Fylde suffered a second yellow card on 26 minutes, new boy Lewis Quinn the recipient. 3 minutes later Burrows made Fylde pay as he was this time unstoppable from close in, Fisher converted, and it was 14-0.
Fylde finally managed to get some sustained possession and worked their way into the opposition half. Unfortunately, a pass cannoned of a Fylde player’s shoulder, was quickly recycled by Sheffield and they showed they had width to their game as well, spinning it and supporting well to put Smith over for his second try. Fisher converted again and Fylde were 21-0 down and staring down the barrel. To their credit they gathered themselves and made their next meaningful possession pay, going through the phases until space was created on the right, with another debutant Greg Morgan producing a fine offload to give winger Ben Turner enough space to get over the line on 36 minutes. Yet another new boy, full-back Lucas Atherton, failed with his first conversion attempt, but Fylde were on the board at 21-5 in arrears.
An Achilles heel of Fylde’s last year was conceding not long after scoring, and it struck again. Fylde had ball midfield after a neat break by Freddie Reader, but then chose a little chip over the top rather than keep ball in hand. Sheffield snuffed out the kick and quickly turned defence into attack, exposing Fylde on their right flank again, nippy winger Chris Hooper finishing off a second fine long range try, leaving Fylde 26-5 down at the break.
Coaches Alex Loney & Chris Briers got to work on their charges and brought Ben Dorrington on for his debut in the back row, as he joined brother Jordan on the pitch, with Mike Walton moving to second row. Fylde weathered some early pressure again and then gained their first real sustained toehold in the game with a more equal share of possession. Chris Rudkin came on at prop for his debut, as King was forced off, and Fylde were competing more and more, stand-off Patrick Bishop finding his feet and adapting to the pace of level 4 rugby as he found more time and space to direct traffic. A team under more pressure will always concede more penalties and Fylde kicked one to touch on 53 minutes, executed the catch and drive well, and smuggled Matt Garrod over for the try. Having gone all season last year without getting over the whitewash Garrod was now joint top try scorer for this season. Lucas Atherton also found his range, knocking over a fine conversion from wide out, and Fylde had narrowed the gap to 26-12.
Unfortunately, it was Achilles heel time again as Sheffield came back to score just 4 minutes later, this time the other winger Jack Dawson on the end of a move that exposed Fylde’s wide out defence, 31-12 to the home side. Fylde would not go away though, and were working hard to make things happen. Jordan Dorrington produced a huge contact at the re-start to jar the ball loose, but was another player to suffer as a result, the stinger he received forcing him off, Tom Forster joining the fray, with Tane Bentley replacing Lewis Quinn. On 63 minutes Fylde were awarded a free kick at a scrum on Sheffield’s 22. Harrison took the quick tap and gave Freddie Reader just enough wiggle room to bisect the defenders, as he scorched through showing a clean pair of heels to race under the posts, Atherton converting to make it 31-19. One more converted try would now give Fylde bonus points at the least.
Credit to Sheffield, every time Fylde got within breathing distance, they were able to wrestle the initiative back and widen the gap once more. They camped out on Fylde’s line for 5 minutes and when they had narrowed up the defence enough, they spun the ball out for centre Will Burden to crash over. Callum Posa converted, and it was 38-19 with 5 minutes left. In those 5 minutes Fylde did their best to create one more try to at least take home a losing bonus point but it wasn’t to be, Reader chipped over the top and dived for the touchdown with the last play of the game, sadly the officials decided who got there first was not clear, and the last chance was gone, Sheffield taking 5 points, and Fylde leaving empty handed. Sheffield named Toby Harrison as Fylde’s man of the match, Chris Hooper Fylde’s pick for the home team.
Sheffield will no doubt be in the mix for top spot this year, and this result was no disgrace. With so many new faces, to go through such a tough opening half hour and then achieve parity on the scoreboard and in the exchanges for the last 50 minutes was a great effort by a set of players still getting to know each other. There is plenty to work on, but there is also plenty to work with, for sure, and the spirit and application is not in doubt. Loney & Briers will look to iron out defensive communication issues and harness attacking qualities effectively.
All the new players showed up well and the old heads like Corey Bowker and Sam Stott showed they have lost none of their hunger. Walton, Morgan, Quinn, Rudkin, Trippier and Ben Dorrington have added a grittier edge to the pack both in attack and defence, and the new half backs and full back Alex Gaughan, Bishop and Atherton showed they can perform at this level, and will no doubt improve with every game as they get used to the pace and intensity levels of National 2 league rugby. Fylde will also want to make as much use of the potent strike threat of Freddie Reader as possible, whether that means giving him a free rein to roam in off his wing or use him in different positions even during the same game remains to be seen. If the lad is given space, and he doesn’t need much, he has pace to burn and fast feet that will test the best of defences.
Coach Chris Briers commented; ‘Sheffield are a good side who look after the ball and do the basics very well. They starved us of the ball first half and put loads of pressure on us, to be fair we defended extremely well, but eventually that pressure told. Second half we had more ball, put some phases together and showed some good glimpses, looking dangerous in our attack. There was lots of promising stuff in there, the overriding message is, if we can keep the ball for longer periods we will be able to break teams down.’
Fylde: Atherton, Reader, J. Dorrington (Forster 60), Stott, Turner, Bishop, Gaughan, Harrison (Captain), Walton, Quinn, Morgan (B. Dorrington 40), Garrod (Morgan 75), Trippier, Parker (King 2/Rudkin 51), Bowker
Sheffield: Casteledine, Dawson, Smith, Burden, Hooper, Posa, Fisher (Drennan 51), Lonsdale (Hicklin 75), Campbell (Hughes 58), Hicklin (Rogers 49), Crapper (Castleton 63), Paarsons, Fawdry, Hignell (Adcock 49), Burrows
