Leeds 35 v Fylde 15: match report by Simon Taylor
Forget the final scoreline. Look past the fact Fylde came back from Yorkshire with nothing to show for their effort and endeavour. Instead, focus on what was a Herculean effort, in the face of some real adversity, with a raft of players injured or unavailable, and players forced to play out of position. A spirited, committed and inventive display saw Fylde go toe to toe with champions elect Leeds, with Leeds having to work very hard to quell the Fylde challenge, only making the game safe in the last 20 minutes, when the heavens opened, and the rain made attacking play difficult for both teams.
Fylde coaches Alex Loney and Chris Briers were presented with major headaches in terms of selecting a pack to take on the physicality of the Leeds forwards. Unavailability as well as the attritional nature of the season in general and a tough win against Hull last time out meant there was no Rob Williamson, Tom Davis, Olli Trippier, Mike Walton, Matt Garrod, Matt Ashcroft or Sam Parker. Freddie Deeks came in to start at hooker in between Chris Rudkin and Pete Altham. Greg Morgan and Lewis Quinn were a brand-new second row partnership, and with skipper Toby Harrison out gnarly warrior Dave Fairbrother took over the captaincy again from number 8. With feast become famine in back row options prop Corey Bowker and centre Sam Stott were called upon to play very much out of position on the blind and open side.
In the backs, in for injured Ben Gould was Alex Gaughan, only just back from injury himself. Will Hunt was in the box seat at 10, with Tom Forster and Alex Clayton in the centres, Adam Lanigan and Jordan Dorrington on the wings, and Freddie Reader at full back. Rob King and Cam Railton provided front row cover on the bench, Ben Turner and Cam Smith were back line replacement options and the biggest surprise of the day was a welcome return for a trimmed down version of Scott Rawlings on the bench. Welcome surprise for Fylde that is, maybe not so much for the Leeds hooker as Rawlings showed he has lost none of his razor-sharp wit at line out time.
Rain had been forecast but held off for the first hour and Leeds started strongly, kicking an early penalty to 5 yards out. With hooker Adam Brown having amassed 21 tries already his season there are no prizes for guessing what is one of the main weapons in Leeds’s armoury. The catch and drive was set up and Brown looked like he was about to make it 22 when Fylde were adjudged to have dragged it down illegally. It was only the 3rd minute, but with the referee awarding a penalty try, he was duty bound to dish out a yellow card as well, and Fairbrother was the recipient. Fylde were 7-0 down and without their skipper for the next 10 minutes.
Rather than let this dishearten them Fylde rose to the challenge. A nice break from Reader led to Fylde’s first penalty and their own line out. Without their usual thrower in and missing their principal jumpers, Deeks did well to hit Morgan and Fylde set up the best phased play they have put together all season. Nine or ten phases with strong carries particularly from Sam Stott and Morgan stressed the Leeds defence into narrowing too much. Will Hunt spotted this and showed his prowess again in the flat kick out wide, finding winger Adam Lanigan in acres of space. Lanigan gathered, dotted down, Hunt converted, and Fylde were level at 7-7 after 7 minutes.
Fylde continued to take the game to Leeds and, with Fairbrother back on, went ahead on 21 minutes. A huge hit in midfield by Pete Altham allowed Corey Bowker to turnover the ball with a great steal. Fairbrother and Morgan created holes in the Leeds defence, Hunt flung a lovely miss pass giving Jordan Dorrington space to break down the wing, and Freddie Reader was on hand to take the final pass, create some scorched earth around the last man and touch down. Hunt’s conversion drifted wide, but Fylde were 12-7 up.
Leeds are not top of the tree for nothing, and they came back on 27 minutes. Any penalties allowing line outs near Fylde’s line were going to mean trouble and this one did give Brown his 22nd try of the season. Full back Seremaia Turagabeci, or Jerry Bai as Leeds call him, and I hope he doesn’t mind me doing so from now on, kicked the conversion and Leeds were back in front at 14-12. Both teams had their chances in the next 10 minutes before Leeds set up shop near the Fylde line again. This time Fylde defended the catch and drive well and forced Leeds into touch on the far side when they span the ball down the line. Unfortunately, Fylde’s own line out then misfired and Leeds’s strong running inside centre Tom Williams was able to crash over from short range, Bai adding the conversion to make it 21-12 at the break, which was tough on Fylde.
Fylde have had some slow starts to second halves this season, but not this week. Lanigan moved to scrum half with Gaughan making way, Cam Smith coming on to the wing, and Fylde came roaring out of the traps, upping the tempo to unsettle Leeds. On 45 minutes under their own posts Leeds’s wing forward Jack Smith was deemed to have knocked on deliberately to halt a Fylde move. It was deemed there was enough cover defence to mean a yellow card was sufficient, when it could have been a penalty try instead. Hunt knocked over the penalty to bring Fylde back within a score at 21-15, and a man advantage for the next 10.
As Fylde had done earlier, Leeds shrugged off being a man down to score next on 51 minutes. Another penalty, line out catch and drive this time leading to Matt Burke touching down, the conversion giving them breathing space again at 28-15. Fylde, however, were not daunted and kept plugging away. Rawlings made it 2 veteran warhorses on the pitch as he came on in the back row and Coery Bowker made his was to his usual position at prop. Rob King also came on with Chris Rudkin and Pete Altham taking well-earned breathers. Ben Turner replaced Alex Clayton in the backs and Fylde upped the tempo again, knowing they needed to score next. Fylde were extremely unlucky not to score twice in two minutes. First, Cam Smith lost the ball when attempting to force his way over wide out. From the goal line drop out Fylde hammered away again until Hunt spotted space out wide again for the cross-kick. Jordan Dorrington did very well to collect the ball on the dive but as his elbow hit the ground the ball was dislodged before it could be grounded.
Leeds made the most of their get out of jail card and Tom Williams made another long-range break to take play deep into Fylde’s 22. Fylde scrambled in defence and repelled the waves of attack until there was one runner too many, prop Tobias Williams crashing over. Jerry Bai made it 5 from 5 conversions and Leeds finally had a healthy lead at 35-15 with 16 minutes left.
Fylde never let their heads go down. Gaughan was back on for Lanigan who had taken a knock and Fylde tried to run from deep whenever they got the ball, as Leeds sought to pin them back. The rain that had been promised all day came in bucketloads, and inevitably it became harder for both teams to keep ball for sustained periods, especially after over an hour of fast paced attack and tiring defence. The scoreboard operator was troubled no more as Leeds saw the game out for their 22nd win from 23 starts and edged closer than ever to promotion.
Whilst Fylde may have had nothing to show for their efforts this was, in many ways, one of the most heartening and enjoyable performances of the season. Every player contributed in huge measure but special mention goes to Freddie Deeks for a fine all round performance, Lewis Quinn, Greg Morgan, Corey Bowker and Sam Stott for strong ball carrying and fierce defence despite none of them playing in their preferred positions. There was no man of the match, credit goes to the whole squad, coaches and support staff for pushing a good team all the way.
Coaches Alex Loney & Chris Briers combined comments were: ‘Overall we were very happy with the performance, although not with the loss and having no league points to show for it. We put some really good passages of play together, especially in the first half, and at times Leeds looked like they didn’t know how to cope with our attack. In large parts it was a nip and tuck game. We think the game was won and lost in the 10 minutes when we got back to 21-15 and they were a man down. Fair play to them for managing that period and then creating further scores. When the weather came in and we needed to play catch up it got more difficult for both teams. To see how much pressure we put them under with our attack and see us defend so well in general, especially with the positional changes we had to make, was very pleasing. We are both really proud of the effort and commitment everybody put in, especially with people playing out of position.’
Fylde remain in 4th place with 3 games left to play, 4 points ahead of Wharfedale, who they visit in the penultimate game. A rest weekend next week will hopefully allow time for some battered bodies to recover before Fylde entertain Billingham at The Woodlands. Billingham have won their last 2 games to climb out the relegation zone, in what is becoming a very tense fight at the bottom of the table. Every one of the last 3 games will mean a lot, especially to teams in the bottom four, and top 6. Fylde will look for a strong finish to the season, showing the spirit, courage and willingness to play fast temp rugby they did on Saturday.
LEEDS TYKES
15 Turagabeci; 14 Evans (Keith 36), 13 Venables, 12 Williams Th, 11 Chitiyo; 10 Watts, 9 Laughton; 1 Williams To, 2 Brown (Yorke 66), 3 Dennis (Cordice 16, Dennis 63), 4 Brady (Collins 60), 5 Guthrie, 6 Smith, 7 Burke, 8 Brown (Walker 74).
FYLDE
15 Reader; 14 Dorrington, 13 Clayton (Turner 63), 12 Forster, 11 Lanigan (Gaughan 69); 10 Hunt, 9 Gaughan (Smith 41); 1 Rudkin (Rawlings 56), 2 Deeks, 3 Altham (King 63), 4 Quinn, 5 Morgan, 6 Bowker, 7 Stott, 8 Fairbrother. Non-playing replacement: Railton.
