Preston Grasshoppers 12 v Fylde 38: report by Simon Taylor
Fylde ended the calendar year in style by completing a league double over local rivals and old foes Preston Grasshoppers with an excellent away win on derby weekend in National 2 North. Their 6 tries to 2 victory was their most accomplished and complete performance of the year, and a much more comfortable win than the home fixture in September, when they had to rely on a late try to pinch the league points.
Fylde made one change from the starting line-up who had mounted a stirring second half comeback to pip Wharfedale at the post the week before, with Jordan Dorrington replacing Cam Smith, as he had done when Smith suffered an early injury in the previous game. Hoppers welcomed back a Smith of their own, player coach Greg, who wore the Fylde 10 shirt for many years before moving ‘down the road’ at the end of last season. In fact, there was an abundance of players who might have been getting confused about which shirt to pull on, with no fewer than 7 of Fylde’s squad and 2 of Hoppers having played for both clubs.
Strong winds were forecast, and duly turned up, but at least the expected rain only arrived in short spells on a few occasions, and the 4G pitch meant there was no mud bath to contend with. Given the conditions, and the fierce close quarter tackling a derby always involves, both teams were to put on a very entertaining spectacle in front of a bumper crowd, and thankfully, scrum parity meant the tedious sight of repeated penalties at that set piece did not dominate the game for once. Predictably, the first 15 minutes was tight, with no quarter asked or given, as each team sought to get the early upper hand, and it took until the 16th minute for the scoreboard to start ticking, Hoppers creating space on the right edge for their speedster Jacob Brown to scorch in from 40 yards out, Smith converting for a 7-0 lead to the home side.
Fylde came straight back just 4 minutes later as they built the phases around the Hoppers 22 allowing Corey Bowker time to pick lovely running line to split the guard defence and race in under the posts, giving Patrick ‘the boot’ Bishop an easy conversion, 7 apiece. Greg Smith missed a penalty for Hoppers on 22 minutes before Fylde put together a great 10 minutes leading up to half time. Firstly, Mike Walton, continuing his fine form, exploited the Hoppers guard defence again to burst through on a short ball, before offloading to his second-row partner Matt Garrod, his giant wing span allowing him to reach out and dot down despite being tackled just short, Bishop converting again. MFG reliably informs me that is his 5th try of the season, meaning he has 1 more of those than the yellow cards he has mustered to date.
Just before half time Fylde struck again, with Ben Turner returning a Hoppers kick with interest, before space was created on the left for Fylde’s own ace of pace Freddie ‘fast feet’ Reader to skirt down the touchline. Reader fed Garrod on the inside and he charitably returned the favour Walton had done him by giving the scoring pass to the ex-Billingham Bulldozer and Walton crashed over. This conversion was missed but Fylde had built up a decent 19-7 lead as they went into the sheds at the break.
Fylde have been guilty of slow starts to the second halves of some games this season, but they were in no mood to let Hoppers back into the game. Their error count was low, as was their penalty count, the defence was solid and their option taking was sensible. All of this and their game management meant Hoppers were struggling to stress them too much or get any patterns going, despite the best efforts of Greg Smith and the always abrasive strong running duo Sammy Russell and skipper Scott Richardson. Fylde worked their way into the Hoppers 22 again on 50 minutes and some close quarter stuff ended in flanker Lewis Quinn barging over, Bishop converting again, and 26-7 was starting to look very healthy.
The game was effectively ended as a contest on the hour mark when Fylde kicked from defence and chased well, putting pressure on the Hoppers replacement scrum half Rory Brand, so much so that he was yellow carded for an indiscretion the officials were not pleased with. Bishop kicked for touch, the catch and drive was set up and the ball spun wide to the left. Hoppers offended again at the breakdown and before they had time to set their defence Mike Walton took a quick tap penalty and barged over for his second try to make it 31-7.
Despite being down a man and on the scoreboard, Hoppers never let their heads drop and they forced a few penalties of their own and set up shop on the Fylde line, interrupting the one-way flow of points when Richardson muscled his way over on 64 minutes to make it 31-12.
Any hopes of a late fightback were quelled though when Fylde scored their final try on 67 minutes. Hoppers kicked deep only for Freddie Reader to dodge and weave as he made a 40 yard return, and from the next phase veteran warhorse Dave Fairbrother, playing like a man 10 years younger, attracted the attention of the guard defence, freed his arms as he was being hauled down, and produced a deft offload to scrum half Ben Gould, giving him a clear run in from 20 yards out. So clear in fact, that the usually polite as you like young number 9 had the time and cheek to raise his finger in the air as he raced in, in a rare display of showboating that we will forgive him for. Bishop knocked his fourth conversion over, and the scoring was done for the day at 38-12. The last 10 minutes saw no let-up in the physicality but other than a second Hoppers yellow card on 72 minutes for Max Laboda, there was nothing further scribbled in the reporter’s notebook.
This was Fylde’s most complete performance of the year, as they managed the game extremely well, including their own game plan, the weather and the emotions of a local derby. The front row of Bowker, young Tom Davis and veteran Pete Altham are a good mix of experience and youth and Mike Walton has added a grit to the second row that supplements Matt Garrod’s technical proficiency in the line out and his desire to be a second outside centre, his round his back offload in the first half when being bundled into touch something he should quite frankly be fined for.
Toby Harrison is always 8 out of 10 minimum, is part of a formidable back row with Fairbrother and Quinn, and has stepped into the skipper role with aplomb. Ben Gould was named man of the match by Hoppers and his speed of service is allowing Patrick Bishop to grow into his playmaker role every week. Sam Stott & Alex Clayton offer a good range of options in the centres and Dorrington, Turner and Reader continue the Fylde tradition of having an exciting and dangerous back three. All the bench got game time, with Ollie Trippier, Chris Rudkin, Greg Morgan, Sam Parker and Tom Forster all maintaining the high standards when they entered the fray.
Coach Chris Briers said, “We put in a really good performance. Often these local derbies can be scrappy because the occasion gets on top of the players, but we asked everyone to have clear thoughts and be focused and they delivered. The lads didn’t panic after Hoppers scored first, they didn’t force or rush anything and just stuck with the plan. It was really pleasing not just to get such a good win but also to have put in a really good all round performance at the same time.”
Fylde’s win sees them remain in fourth position with 9 wins from 13 starts. For a heavily rebuilt squad who lost 2 of the first 3 games this must be seen a very pleasing half term report for the first XV, backed up by excellent first halves of the season for the Hawks (second XV) and the Vandals. The coaches, squad, physios and support staff now have some time to enjoy a break over Christmas and then focus on the second half of the season in 2025, beginning with Lymm at home on Saturday 11th January.
Click here for Mike Craig’s excellent photographs: https://bit.ly/3PfDbqZ
Fylde: Reader, Dorrington J, Clayton (Forster 69), Stott, Turner, Bishop, Gould, Fairbrother (Morgan 69), Harrison (Captain), Quinn (Parker 59), Walton, Garrod, Altham (Trippier 49), Davis, Bowker (Rudkin 66)
Hoppers: Browne, May, Keohane, Russell (O’Donnell 72), Spence, Smith, O’Donnell (Brand 40), Richardson (Captain/Norrington 40), Longson, Willetts (Naylor 49), Murray (Richardson 49), Causey (Loboda 68), Hill (Williams 40), Holden, Parkinson (Hill 68)
