FYLDE 31 HULL IONIANS 27: match report by Will Judd
It was Fylde’s first home game of 2025 on Saturday and it was a day without a cloud in sight, a
perfect afternoon for the home side to pay tribute and battle hard for ‘Mr Fylde’ Allan Townsend,
who sadly passed on the final day of last year. After the minute silence, the boys were ready to go to
war for him – their opponents, a fierce Hull Ionians side.
The game started perfectly for Fylde, as eight minutes in they were awarded a scrum in the
opposition 22. The resulting phases saw the ball shipped into the right hand channel and a super
Freddie Reader offload freed Ben Turner to dive into the corner for the opening score. The
conversion by Patrick Bishop was super and Fylde were up by 7.
They didn’t have to wait long for the second either, as less than 10 minutes later they were in again,
thanks to an almost carbon-copy of the first try. Reader to Turner in the corner yet again, the only
blip being the missed conversion which left Fylde with a 12-0 lead. In fact, another more significant blip was the worrying loss through injury of starting prop Corey Bowker and then his replacement Chris Rudkin. Fylde fortunately was able to call on the versatile Olli Trippier who can cover both prop positions and hooker.
The next 15 minutes showed the momentum switching around, a daunting sign of what was to come later
on, but for now the home side found some more positives. A few phases after an attacking lineout, Olly Trippier pulled of a clever pick up to drive over the line, not far from the posts. The
conversion was simple enough for Bishop and Fylde were in dreamland at 19=0 up.
The dream however began to fade with five minutes to play to the interval. Too many mistakes and poor
decisions had allowed Ionians to begin controlling the match. A successful Lewis Minikin penalty five
minutes before half time was the precursor to the Ionians first try of the game, which was scored after a
lineout and maul deep into the red zone on the clock. Hooker Ben Stephenson had been able to pull the deficit back to only 11 points despite the missed conversion.
The half time break was needed for Fylde to try to reassert their early control. But it didn’t work out like that. Ionians picked up their momentum five minutes into the second half when fullback Cam Burnhill was able to score in the right corner. The conversion attempt failed but both the points and the pressure were beginning to mount on the home side.
The gap was only six points and it seemed inevitable, with all the visitors’ momentum, that Fylde were going to lose this lead. This is exactly what happened when replacement Archie Upton scored beneath the posts after
another dominant scrum from the visitors. The conversion was simple and in the space of 20 minutes either side of the HT break Ionians had come from 19 points down to leading 19-20.
Fylde had to wake up as they hadn’t set foot in the opposition 22 in the 2nd half until the 56th minute, where they finally had some joy. A penalty was won in a very kickable position and, with sage voices from the terraces shouting “take the kick” stand-in-skipper David Fairbrother ignored the advice and elected to tap and go, and the tactic paid off. The ball was moved left along the backline and winger Cam Smith snatched the ball out of the air and dived into the corner for the try. Patrick Bishop’s attempted conversion drifted wide but with Fylde in the lead again at 24-20 the game was still in the balance.
That balance, however, was ever changing in the blockbuster final 20 minutes. Gone was the early domination from Fylde and gone was the second half control from Hull Ionians.
It looked as though the boys from the Woodlands had sorted out their defence, as some superb lineout steals from the athletic Matt Garrod had turned defence into attack. From a driving maul near the Ionians line in the 76th minute, hooker Tom Davis secured the ball and broke off to drive over for the crucial try. This gave Fylde an unlikely buffer given their early 2nd half struggles and Bishop’s conversion gave them a 31-20 lead. What a recovery!
The last few minutes ticked by and, although an Ionians’ win was off the cards in the dying moments, bonus points were still to play for, something that could be important come the end of the season. Predictably, Lewis Minikin spearheaded late Hull pressure and broke the defensive line in the 80th minute to sneak in for his side’s fourth try for a try bonus point and in so doing also picked up a losing point as well. This was some deserved reward for a strong showing by the East Yorkshire side.
A final score of 31-27 reflected this royal see-saw of a game, and a good result for a Fylde side who at times made too many mistakes and gave away too many penalties, almost letting the game slip away in the process. Hull were worthy opponents and could have taken maximum points on another day but Fylde were spirited and secured a valuable result and maximum points to keep them fourth in the table.
FYLDE:
1 C Bowker (C Rudkin 8, O Trippier 15), 2 T Davis, 3 P Altham, 4 G Morgan (M Ashcroft 68), 5 M Garrod, 6 M Walton, 7 M Ashcroft (L Quinn 49), 8 D Fairbrother (c); 9 B Gould, 10 P Bishop; 11 C Smith (L Atherton 63), 12 S Stott, 13 A Clayton (T Forster 68), 14 B Turner; 15 F Reader.
HULL IONIANS:
1 C Morton (S Edwards 53), 2 B Stephenson (A Upton 53), 3 S Westwood (M Melhuish 58), 4 J Makin (c), 5 C Sanderson (J Gillingwater 68), 6 L Powell, 7 J Sanderson, 8 A Hudson; 9 S Pocklington, 10 B Smith; 11 T Winch, 12 J Britton (C Kirk 77), 13 L Minikin, 14 W Yates; 15 C Burnhill.
