FYLDE 61 HARROGATE 14
MATCH REPORT BY WILL JUDD
Altham makes 150th appearance and Fylde cruise to third home victory in scrappy affair against Harrogate.
Fylde welcomed Harrogate to the Woodlands on Saturday, with the hopes of remaining unbeaten at home. In order to do this, they had to break down a scrappy and physical Harrogate side, who had just secured their first win of the season against Chester.
It was a great day for rugby thanks to the clear blue skies and after a scruffy opening 12 minutes, it was Fylde who opened the scoring. Home debutant winger Cameron Smith chased down his infield chip and put a considerable amount of pressure on the acting fly-half who tripped and spilt the ball, allowing for Smith to touch down a gift of a try. The conversion was made simple for Patrick Bishop who opened his tally for the afternoon.
Things got worse for the visitors after flanker Ben Richardson was handed a yellow card, giving Fylde a man advantage. Twenty minutes in, Patrick Bishop received the ball inside the Harrogate half and produced a sumptuous dummy and then offload, splitting the defenders and allowing for an easy finish for Alex Clayton under the posts. This gave the home side a 14-0 advantage.
However, Fylde handed the visitors a chance of a comeback when skipper Toby Harrison was carded in the 23rd minute which resulted in a period of pressure from the visitors and an eventual seven points when lock Jack Gilmartin scored from close in. Then, just shy of the half-hour mark, a penalty try was also awarded for Harrogate as the breakaway runner was bought down illegally by Cam Smith, Referee Gavin Jones deeming it to be a high tackle. This meant Fylde were momentarily down to 13 men.
This wasn’t so much of an issue however as the Ref certainly enjoyed reaching into his pocket during the afternoon. Five minutes before half time another Harrogate player, Will Hill, was placed in the sin bin which resulted in Bishop touching down after sustained pressure. He converted his try to make it three from three.
On the stroke of half time, Fylde also stole the ball from the lineout and when Lewis Quinn got his hands on the ball he battered through the defensive line and scored Fylde’s fourth of the match. Adding an extra two points, Fylde headed for the changing room (or rather the half-way line team talk) with a 28-14 lead.
As the second half began, Harrogate were handed their final yellow card of the game and Toby Harrison redeemed his earlier yellow, knocking two defenders out the way to score beneath the posts, adding another 7 points after yet another Bishop conversion.
Then the man of the moment was subbed onto the pitch. Peter Altham made his 150th appearance for the club and was welcomed onto the pitch by cheers and applause from home and away supporters alike. Congratulations once more Mr Altham!
At the 60-minute mark, perhaps due to the presence of Altham on the pitch, the floodgates really opened for Fylde and try after try came flying in. It began with Ben Turner providing a super finish in the corner after some patient phases, the finish only being topped by simply brilliant conversion from Patrick Bishop on his weaker side. Only a minute later, Fylde scored again, breaking through the defence straight from the kick off, which enabled Cam Smith to score again. Bishop’s final attempt at goal was successful meaning he ended his afternoon with an 7/7 record off the tee. 49-14. That was the end of his shift as he retired to the stand, with Alex Clayton stepping up to the no 10 role.
With 10 left to play Fylde scored once more, when Cam Smith completed his hat-trick, converted this time by fullback Atherton. Five minutes later, Toby Harrison was the final scorer of the afternoon, touching down in the corner and rounding off a superb afternoon of rugby at the Woodlands. Finishing 61-14, Fylde’s unbeaten home record was intact and pushed them up to fourth in the National League North table.
There were many standout performances, with Smith scoring a hat-trick on his home debut, and the likes of Quinn and Harrison providing some powerful runs. But Bishop was simply fantastic, pulling the strings in the backline, providing flair and technique which his team will be happy not to have to play against.
YCs: Richardson (Harrogate 16); Harrison (Fylde 23); Smith (Fylde 29); Hill (Harrogate 31); Wickham (Harrogate 41).
Click here for video coverage of Fylde’s nine tries.
Click here for Chris Farrow’s album of action photos.
FYLDE: 15 Lucas Atherton; 14 Ben Turner, 13 Sam Stott, 12 Alex Clayton (Lewis Quinn 64) 11 Cameron Smith; 10 Patrick Bishop (Tom Forster 64), 9 Alex Gaughan; 1 Chris Rudkin (Corey Bowker 58), 2 Tom Davis, 3 Olly Trippier (Peter Altham 50), 4 Mike Walton (Greg Morgan 24), 5 Matt Garrod, 6 Lewis Quinn (Ben Dorrington 58), 7 Toby Harrison ©, 8 David Fairbrother.
HARROGATE: 15 Charlie Metcalf; 14 Fred Chell, 13 Kristan Dobson, 12 Kodie Brook, 11 Virimi Seru (Pettitt 44, Seru 53); 10 Tom Steene (Amrit Sharma 63), 9 Tom Pettitt ( Philip Wickham 41); 1 Jacob Percival, 2 Steve Maycock (Oliver Fretwell 53), 3 Josh Peace, 4 Callum Russell, 5 Jack Gilmartin (Semi Tokaduadua 60), 6 Will Hill, 7 Ben Richardson (Sam Shepherd 60), 8 Martin Dodds.
Attendance: 549