Fylde and Lymm played out a competitive pre-season warm up in front of a very good crowd at the Woodlands in preparation for the start of the new National League season on 6th September. Both clubs are likely to have learnt more about their squads’ comparative strengths and weaknesses as a result. Fylde will be reasonably happy with their display that produced some fine running rugby and generally fierce defence. Eight tries by the Lancastrians against three by the visitors tells the story.
As is the norm with such matches, each club had selected extended squad numbers of up to 30 players. Attempting to give every player some game time inevitable leads to a certain lack of continuity but the benefits for, in particular, some of the young players who were bloodied were obvious. Given the very warm conditions and the need for suitable hydration, the game was played in three sections – two 30 minute periods followed by a final 20 mins.
Although missing a few first choice players, Fylde selected a strong squad including four new recruits who were in the starting line-up. Two – lock Will Greenwood and scrum-half Gabe Maguire – gave impressive performances as they did in Lancashire U’20s County Championship winning squad at Twickenham in May. Two other more experienced recruits also put in compelling performances – Ben Walton has moved from the Billingham in the North East to join his brother Michael in the engine room and winger Leo Gilliland who was the star of the show overall notching a hat trick of tries. Six other debutants were amongst the replacements.
The home club’s main concern was their discipline which referee Gavin Jones punished very heavily with a constant stream of penalty decisions against them.
Lymm started the game strongly and penned Fylde inside their 22 metre line for some 10 minutes. Desperate home defence resulted in a succession of penalties against them. However, the defence held out and in another attack from the visitors backs an overly ambitious miss pass was read by scrum-half Maguire and his interception and a 70m break downfield opened the scoring. Fly-half Will Hunt added the conversion for a 7-0 lead.
Fylde were now warming to their task and some flowing, running rugby was the result. In the 14th minute Corey Bowker put in a most unlikely and impressive prop’s burst 50m downfield and his skipper Toby Harrison was on hand to drive over the line from close range to extend his side’s lead.
Lymm, led by the ever prominent fly-half Tom Shard, pressed the Fylde defence once more but a superb tackle by Fylde centre Tom Forster near his line prevented them from opening their scoring.
The Fylde backline was becoming more fluent and in the 24th min they went wide down the left and fullback Alex Clayton threaded a lovely grubber kick down the touchline. Winger Leo Gilliland won the desperate race to get the touchdown in the corner. Hunt’s attempted conversion drifted wide but his side had a 19-0 lead.
After the first 30 minute break in play, Lymm stepped up their attacking and once again pressed deep inside the Fylde half. There was more last ditch Fylde defence attempting to repel their advances but the penalty try that followed opened Lymm’s account, 19-7.
In the 40th minute a startling break by Gilliland down the right drew the Lymm defence and he released winger Ben Turner to notch his side’s 4th try.
7 minutes later it was the turn of Lymm to read a long pass by a Fylde back and their fullback intercepted to go the length of the pitch to reduce the deficit to 24-14.
With the bit between their teeth, in the 54th min Lymm attacked again and scored a well constructed try which was converted by Shard. Suddenly, at 24-21, the match was in the balance.
Fylde’s response was conclusive as they upped their efforts after the 2nd break for water and a breather. Gilliland was at it again and scorched through for his second try and, as Hunt had taken a deserved break, it was converted by the replacement fly-half, local boy Dan Slawson.
A few minutes later Tom Forster raced through a tiring Lymm defence but as he ran into the in-goal area he delayed touching down and the try was ruled out as he stepped over the backline.
By now, all the Fylde players were getting in on the act. Prop Peter Altham collected a loose ball in the Lymm half, put in another non prop-like midfield burst before offloading to the ubiquitous Gilliland for his hat trick try.
There was just enough time for another new young player, the very pacy Louis Callow, to race through for his side’s 8th try and a final 52-21 scoreline.
Both teams persisted in attacking rugby throughout the match but it was the very penetrative Fylde backline which was the difference between the teams. There are some areas of their game which need tidying up but their overall performance was impressive and will give coaches Chris Briers and Alex Loney lots of encouragement.
A trip to Blackburn on the 23rd August completes their pre-season preparations ahead of the visit of Hull Ionians for the opening National Two (North) league match of the season at the Woodlands.
Many thanks for a committed physical display by the Lymm squad and their heads never dropped. Indeed, until the last 20 mins then they were nip and tuck with Fylde. Good luck to them for their season in National Two (West). We hope they’ll soon be back where they belong in the Northern division!
Click here for Chris Farrow’s album of match photos.
FYLDE: 15 Alex Clayton; 14 Leo Galliland, 13 Sam Stott, 12 Tom Forster, 11 Ben Turner; 10 Will Hunt, 9 Gabe Maguire; 1 Corey Bowker, 2 Sam Parker, 3 Rob King, 4 Ben Walton, 5 Will Greenwood, 6 Lewis Quinn, 7 Toby Harrison, 8 David Fairbrother.
Replacements: 16 James Sutcliffe, 17 Olly Trippier, 18 Peter Altham, 19 Chris Rudkin, 20 Greg Morgan, 21 Max Senior, 22 Ashton Kasam-Sharples, 23 Ben Gould, 24 Dan Slawson, 25 Kyle Macauley, 26 Louis Callow.
LYMM: Forwards: Nick Ashton, Dal Ngoma, Dan McQuade, Sohail Kakaie, Tom Elphick, Logan Byrne, George Reay, Sam Beahan, Sam Wickes, James Yates, Harry Wasdell, Lewis Stewart, Rory Cartlidge, Danny Senior, Isaac Millachip, Matt Hill, Max Ure, Sean Callender, Ben Polec, Olly Thornton, Jamie Cope (Colt).
Backs: Tom Manaton, Eamon Slavin, Matthew Harrison (Colt), Thomas Shard, Matty Hope, Sam Wadsworth, Jack Stride, Harry Reay, Joe Senior, Nathan Beesley, Ben Youlden Cole, Paddy Jennings, Jack Reynolds.