FYLDE 28 SHEFFIELD TIGERS 32, report by Will Judd
Fylde were looking to regain momentum after some tough results and they had every chance against a Sheffield Tigers side who had only won four games all season. However, it was far easier said than done.
The Tigers got off to a flying start four minutes in, as Sheffield turned defence into attack and after some superb hands they got home in the right corner through fullback Will Baker. Despite the tricky angle the conversion by Mark Ireland was good and the visitors had a 0-7 lead.
A lead which was increased less than ten minutes later when a lineout maul into the opposite corner clambered across the line in the hands of hooker Will Archer. No conversion this time but Fylde still needed to wake up and tighten up their defence if they were to claw back the early 12-point deficit.
And wake up they did. Phases in the Sheffield Tigers 22 began to build and so did the penalties, eventually leading to referee George Ounsley losing patience and awarding a penalty try and a yellow card for centre Ben Manderfield.
Despite an Ireland penalty scored by the visitors extending their lead, Fylde secured another try, this time through David Fairbrother who capitalised on the visitors losing the ball in contact. A superb line break was enough for the talisman to score between the posts, making the conversion by fly-half Patrick Bishop easy on the half an hour mark. At the interval, Fylde trailed by 14-15.
Fylde may have believed at half time that the victory was achievable, but when Tigers took the ball from the second half restart and produced some fantastic offloads to scythe through the home side’s defence once again it became apparent it would be tough. Those offloads saw Tigers score a beautiful try on the right-hand side through no 8 Tom Calladine. The conversion was good and Fylde were back to square one.
Another penalty was kicked by Mark Ireland on 50 minutes into the match for a 14-25 lead for the visitors. It got worse when Fylde’s Tom Davis’ try attempt was held up on the line, despite the cries from the home side.
But just shy of the hour mark, a way back into the match was granted to Fylde, when try-scorer turned to ‘sin-binner’ Calladine who was given a yellow for a high tackle. The home side used this advantage to blast some phases in the opposition 22, eventually seeing flanker Mike Walton charged through to the line. The conversion was simple for Patrick Bishop in front of the posts and with twenty minutes to play it was anyone’s game at 21-25. On came Fylde replacement Adam Lanigan to make his 100th appearance for his home town club and he received a warm reception from the crowd.
Tigers wanted it to be their game though and with just over 10 to go they dealt a sucker punch right into the heart of Fylde. Substitute Barney Goatley got on the end of an utterly superb chip and chase from his teammate, waiting for the offload to perfectly fall into his hands. The conversion was there and with a 21-32 lead it was a huge ask for Fylde from there on.
Not that the boys showed and sign of giving up however, as hooker Tom Davis did what he was doing all game and broke the line, almost getting over himself before being stopped by the final defender, only for debutant scrum-half Lewis Kincart to get the touchdown.
Fylde threw everything at the final ten minutes, launching phase after phase directly at spirited Sheffield Tigers defence that just would not give. Eventually a turnover in the final seconds of the game allowed for the visitors to kick the ball out of play to secure a hard fought victory over the hosts at the Woodlands.
It was not to be for a Fylde team whose eventual downfall featured far too many errors against a well-drilled side. The boys will certainly have to regroup fast before a trip to Harrogate on Saturday and then their next home game against Lymm in a fortnight.
Click here for Andy Sowden’s match photos.
15 Atherton (Forster 52); 14 Turner, 13 Reader, 12 Stott, 11 Smith (Lanigan 60); 10 Bishop, 9 Kincart; 1 Trppier (Rudkin 51), 2 Davis, 3 Altham, 4 Morgan (Parker 51), 5 Garrod, 6 Walton, 7 Dorrington B, 8 Fairbrother. Non-playing replacement: King.
Sheffield Tigers: 15 Baker; 14 Norman, 13 Broadley (Goatley 60), 12 Manderfield, 11 Wager; 10 Ireland, 9 Holmes (Talbot 71); 1 Bennett, 2 Archer (Crowe 70), 3 Denman (Bingham 40), 4 Fitzsimmons, 5 Hawksworth, 6 Redfern (Anderson 40), 7 Monks, 8 Calladine (Monks 76).
Attendance: 634
