FYLDE VANDALS 31:5 EAST MANCHESTER RUFC
Now without checking the archives or asking the elder statesmen of the club, but this could have well been the first preseason match for the Fylde Vandals for decades, or perhaps a first for the clubs social teams ever, open to debate.
The Rhinos are a relatively newly formed club, who have been making noise in the leagues they are in with some impressive results, and dare I say it (tongue firmly in cheek) but they weren’t shy in making noise on the aul social media on the build-up to the game either. Quite respect to that to be honest.
The Rhinos rocked up with an impressive big side, so was quietly glad I was sitting this one out myself if being truly honest about it.
After the warmups were completed in warm and clammy weather, the game eventually kicked off with a decent kick-off with extra hang time from the Rhinos outhalf. It wasn’t dealt with by the home side, but all was forgiven when they managed to put pressure on the resulting scrum.
Not too sure if there is always a bit of rusty nervousness with preseason games, probably due to a lack of experience with them, but it could have been the intimidating opposition, but no doubt about it, there was something in the air…
It was rain.
And lots of it.
After months of drought, water shortage warnings and unwanted sunburn, we quickly realised that we weren’t used to playing in the rain, and boy did it tell. Without giving too much away, our strong set piece bailed us out after numerous handling errors, but not calling anyone out as I can say confidently that I would haven’t have been much better.
After a few close calls as the Vandals pressurised the Rhinos tryline, Stephan Kuhn managed to break the deadlock to dot down for the games first try. His gift for this was being handed the kicking tee.
Now I don’t want to say that we were all doubting him and having a laugh, but that’s exactly what we were doing from the stands and sideline. Like Ernie Els dealing with a difficult shot, he gave it some welly and no doubt it bended round perfectly just like he had planned in advance. Extras added, decent start for us on the scoreboard.
Captain Jamie Griffin does what he does best, carries hard, swats would-be defenders off and lumbers over for a try. Oh I’d get given out to if I didn’t mention that he is sponsored this season by none other than Battery Britain.
Well lightning must has struck twice, as Stephan Kuhn stepped up again to split the posts with the conversion.
The Rhinos didn’t travel up to the Fylde Coast this weekend for the Kite Festival, and showed plenty fight getting back into the game.
A penalty for a turnover on the deck for the visitors and the resulting additional 10-metre march forward into the Vandals half for ill-discipline gave them a strong foundation. After playing a bit of ball into the home sides 22 in front of the clubhouse, they sent an audacious crossfield over the defence and after a bit of controlling footwork their hooker scored in the right-hand corner.
They missed the conversion, but that hooker was starting to make a nuisance of himself bringing his own kicking game into the mix.
My father used to tell us ‘to fight fire with fire’ which is why he probably got kicked out of the fire brigade now that I think back on it.
But what this poor attempt of a joke is trying to loosely get to is that the Vandals have an aptly named “Baby Rhino”, in their own ranks in powerful centre Jack McCutcheon.
Now Jack had already had a few powerful carries in the game, but after getting another chance (this time with passing not on the mind), he powered through to add his name to the scorers column.
Step up Stephan for a chance at nailing the hattrick of conversions, but alas, it wasn’t to be.
PEEEeeeep
That was the sounds of the referees half time whistle with the home side leading 19-5 in a tough physical contest in damper than hoped for conditions.
Being essentially a friendly warm-up match, the use of rolling subs was used, introducing some players onto the playing field for their team debuts, along with some more mature and experienced heads, more about these bucks later (if I remember).
Now it’s probably worth mentioning that preseason or not, it’s not good to see injuries, but they do sadly happen in the contact sport that we all play and love. A couple of the Manchester lads had sadly left the field of play with injuries, and there was at least one more of their centres hobbling going into half time.
As the second half got underway there was noticeable changes on both sides. Again, it was a very scrappy and stop-start match with more handling errors than any coach, player or spectator would want to see… except for the purists who love watching a good scrum.
That said, we were soon treated to something that was pure special.
Will hold my hand up, I was vocally asking why Tom Fox was playing at stand-in second centre, until a moment of sheer magic happened.
Getting the opportunity to go on another rumble, while sucking in 3-4 defenders, Foxy twisted around and before hitting the deck gave a delicate offload. From memory, I’m pretty sure that Oliver Smith gave another offload, and one more followed by someone who I just can’t remember right now, but the ball eventually got its way across to Mulenga Chilufya who weaved and waved through to score over to the right-hand side of the posts.
Stephan stepped up once again, but after a promising start to his kicking duties, his kicking success rate levelled out at 2 from 4 after giving it another lash.
There were a few more notable moments (too many to cover all off on this occasion, I have beers waiting after all), but wanted to quickly mention about Richard Appleyard chasing back to make another try saving tackle, the manic applause from the stands when the legend that is Hakan Ilhan entered the field, and DJ Barry Tucker making his comeback appearance following his BBL surgery that he had been looking forward to for so many years. Each to their own eh!
Anyone remember me mentioning about Manchester’s hooker being a nuisance earlier on? Well, he was at it again. Have to tip to cap to the ingenuity, but after being awarded a penalty, he took a sneaky tap restart before a casual and innocuous stroll up to the unknowing defensive line (have to love it really).
Thankfully for the Vandals, our outhalf maestro who had tackled like a demon all game, Joe Green, was wide awake to this and put a shot in to rock the attacker backwards.
Gregor Aitken was hyper on the sidelines after being taken as part of the player rotation, asking to get back on. Fast forward to his reintroduction plus about 10-20 seconds and after a bit of a dummy and swerve was showing the Rhinos fullback a clean pair of heels.
There was a bit of confusion when he was handed the kicking tee, and then duly passed it to Joe Green. Now there’s not many non-specialist placed ball kickers out there that are comfortable (if truth be told) to step up to kick a penalty or conversion (exception being former prop Liam Sheedy here). A confident voice came in as debutant Oli asked if he could take the kick.
It’s a bit wild to hear, even more so as Oli had openly never played rugby before in his life. Keen as mustard, he certainly looked like he knew what he was doing as he blasted the kick over with maximum confidence and little fuss. I found out at the bar after that his grandfather, who was down watching the match, was a well decorated kicker for Warrington Wolves rugby league side in the 80’s. Apple hasn’t fallen too far from the tree there then.
Further mention to our other debutants Alex and Stuart. Alex had played at Fylde previously, but I’m not too sure at what grade, in any case it was too late to take back his debut pint, so it’s in the books now. Stuart has been coming down to every session over the last few months but has openly never played the sport before. This is the beauty of having social teams at the club. He was handed a less than ideal kicked ball through to him soon after making his introduction, and did well against a wall of Rhinos coming in at pace to put pressure on him.
Thanks very much to Luca for refereeing the match.
As expected, within minutes of the final whistle being blown, the heavens closed again and the rain stopped.
It was a good run out for the Vandals side and hopefully to for our opposition. From what I understand, at a time where rugby clubs up and down the country are losing social and second teams and there are even clubs that are sadly winding up due to lack of players, its great to see the likes of East Manchester setting up as a new club in 2024 and now running two sides.
Wish them all the best for the season, and knowing that they are all on the way back to shout on one of their buddies in his boxing match tonight, I’m sure that they’ll brush off this preseason defeat relatively quickly as they enjoy a few well deserved jars.
FINAL SCORE: (in case you missed it at the beginning): Fylde Vandals: 31 – East Manchester Rhinos: 5
Next up is the real deal as we take on an always strong Littleborough side away at their place as the 2025/26 league season kicks off. Getting promoted as league winners is great and all, but now the real work starts as the standard of our opposition goes up a gear.
Fylde RFC