FYLDE 47 CHESTER 24: match report by Will Judd
Fylde welcomed Chester to the Woodlands in a game that was bound to be competitive, after both teams had been victorious over Preston Grasshoppers, but heavily beaten by Lymm, in recent weeks.
Prior to kick-off both teams formed up for a minute’s silence to honour both Sonia Pinnell, who was heavily involved in the club and Liam Canning, a player for Rossendale Rugby Club, who had only recently played against Fylde in a pre-season friendly. Our thoughts are with their families and loved ones.
The game got underway with an early try after Chester winger Dafydd Williams picked up on a misplaced Fylde pass. The subsequent grubber kicks along the ground were chased down by the Fylde backs, but Williams arrived at the try-line quickest to score under the posts in front of the Clubhouse. This made the conversion for Bagshaw nice and easy.
Fylde were struggling early on thanks to repeated handling errors and wasteful passes, but with a penalty advantage well inside Chester’s 22, fly-half Patrick Bishop chipped the ball into a congested goal area, picking out Jordan Dorrington to bring the home side back within a conversion, which was comfortably scored by Patrick Bishop.
Fylde maintained this pressure in the 1st half, which led to a driving maul off a lineout, being touched down by lock Matt Garrod in the corner to give Fylde a 12-7 lead.
Another converted Fylde try in quick succession, this time from the scrum and scored once again by the towering Garrod, meant the hosts had breathing space heading into half time at 19-7.
Fylde continued their pressure into the 2nd half and added another seven points to their tally when replacement Greg Morgan took the ball for the first time since coming on and handed off two challenges before diving over the line. This prompted numerous joking boasts from the coaching staff praising their ‘genius’ tactical decision to put Morgan on the pitch to replace the injured Michael Walton who had a storming game up to that point.
It got even better for Fylde 5 minutes later when a perfectly timed offload on the 22 gave Dorrington a clear run beneath the posts to give the hosts 7 more points. This left Fylde with a comfortable 33-7 lead.
However, there was still life in Chester who attempted a comeback with 15 to play. After numerous penalties deep in the Fylde half David Jones was eventually able to force the ball over the line for the visitors, edging Chester closer to the home side’s lead.
But Fylde were quick to shut any suggestion of a comeback down mere minutes later thanks to a beautiful passing phase from the backs, the ball eventually falling to Jordan Dorrington in the corner, planting the ball down under the watchful eye of Sir Bill Beaumont. This was followed by a super conversion from Bishop in the corner.
The final ten minutes was a whirlwind of action beginning with Chester scoring in the corner, despite numerous calls from the Fylde players and fans alike that the try scorer Joe Heaton had been put in touch. This was followed moments later by Fylde’s Matt Garrod receiving a yellow card after numerous penalties, an offside call being the straw that broke the Camel’s back.
Chester used the man advantage to travel up the other end of the pitch via substitute Ben Raubitschek who appeared to knock the ball on before the try line, however referee George Ounsley was best placed to make the decision and awarded the try.
This wouldn’t have any lasting effect on the scoreline however, as Fylde hit back in the last minute through Matt Ashcroft tucking into the corner. Another superb conversion from Patrick Bishop was the icing on Fylde 8 Dave Fairbrother’s birthday cake, rounding off a solid afternoon for the boys, despite some rough patches at the start and end of the game.
Fylde Joint Head Coach Chris Briers commented after the game saying ‘’There was a lot of good Rugby played by us. We seemed to improve as the game went on until maybe the last ten minutes or so when we got a bit soft and let Chester in for a couple of tries.’’
Chris and the rest of the coaching staff elected Patrick Bishop as MOTM for commanding the attacks and kicking brilliantly, however a special mention should be made to both Jordan Dorrington and Freddie Reader for their excellent carries throughout the game also. The coaches also selected no 8 David Jones as the outstanding Chester player.
Click here for Chris Farrow’s album of action photos: https://bit.ly/4eExm16
FYLDE: 15 Reader; 14 Turner, 13 Stott, 12 Clayton (Forster 64), 11 Dorrington (Atherton 69); 10 Bishop, 9 Gaughan; 1 Bowker (Rudkin 67) , 2 Williamson, 3 Trippier (Altham 25, Trippier 64), 4 Walton (Morgan 55), 5 Garrod, 6 Quinn, 7 Ashcroft, 8 Fairbrother.
CHESTER: 15 Gethin; 14 Heaton, 13 McMinimee (Bagshaw 66), 12 Hamilton, 11 Williams (Raubitschek 64); 10 Bagshaw (Craven 56), 9 Ellis; 1 Woods (Clarke 45), 2 Hanson, 3 Cleverley (Furnival 45), 4 Powell (Graham 53), 5 Spalding (Powell 71), 6 Wilkinson, 7 Roberts, 8 Jones.
