FYLDE 40 HULL RUFC 28: match report by Will Judd
The Woodlands was treated to a real back and forth game as Fylde extended their unbeaten run in the league to four games against a very physical Hull side.
Against the opening grain of play, Fylde got the scoreboard rolling in the 10th minute when Sam Stott finished off a wonderfully flowing move off the back of a tap and go penalty. He dived over into the left-hand corner from where Danny Cassidy produced his first of five awesome conversions.
Around 10 minutes later and Hull began to rack up even more penalties against them, allowing Fylde to produce almost a carbon copy of their first try, this time winger Adam Lanigan stretching over deep in the left corner. This conversion was even better from the former Rugby League player Cassidy who curled the ball in despite the almost impossible angle and a tricky breeze.
Fylde were now two tries clear, and with the away side going down to 14 men after a David Halaifonua high tackle, the momentum was with them.
But it wasn’t straightforward as in the 30th minute Hull stole the ball from Fylde’s struggling lineout, culminating in fullback Harry Gunn-McClean reaching into the corner for the visitors’ first try of the afternoon.
Five minutes later and it was followed up by the returning Halaifonua who ran an excellent line ten meters from the try line to cruise past the last line of defence and touch down beneath the posts. Unlike their first try, Reece Dean was able to convert and they were now only two points from killing Fylde’s advantage.
Skipper for the day, David Fairbrother, had other ideas when in the final play of the half he somehow muscled his way over the try line in the left-hand corner again after another accumulation of Hull penalties. Cassidy’s kick made it three out of three for him and Fylde had their try cushion back, leaving the score at 21-12 at half time.
Fairbrother almost added a second try to his name minutes into the second, only for the try to be disallowed for a knock-on in the buildup.
Fylde did not let this stop them though as in the 45th minute Cassidy added to his kicking credentials by scoring a try of his own. He produced a wicked dummy to throw the defence away, which rounded off a brilliantly fast counter-attack. No conversion this time, but he could easily be forgiven after slotting the first three and bagging a try.
The home side would be glad to have this lead as the next ten minutes or so would prove difficult. Fairbrother received a yellow card for an accumulation of penalties, which was followed by Hull’s massive, former Premiership prop Charlie Beech bundling over the line from the subsequent penalty. After the Dean conversion Hull were back within a converted try of the home side.
But at the hour mark The Woodlands crowd had their worries eased with back to back tries, the last two scores for Fylde in the game.
The first was off Ben Turner running a nice line, largely helped by another splendid Lewis Quinn carry making lots of meters a few phases beforehand.
Then three minutes later Cassidy was in again after sweet offloads between the backs. Of course, both were converted by Cassidy and the home side could relax a little with their 40-19 lead.
Fylde were perhaps a little too relaxed as in the final 10 minutes Hull’s Loma Kivalu scored two tries, both through driving mauls on the left. No conversions however meant they would not change the outcome of the game and despite a late Olly Trippier yellow, Fylde made it home for another win at The Woodlands.
This was a strong result for Fylde. Despite Hull being yet to secure a victory this season, their forwards pack largely out muscled the home team, forcing Fylde to play in their traditional way, through the backs.
They will need to continue this momentum into their next game, a challenging away tie against Macclesfield, who have a 100% record on their return to National Two (North). This is followed by the visit of league leaders and promotion favourites Sheffield RUFC to the Woodlands. Despite suffering a few injuries, if 4th placed Fylde can come away with, say, five or so points from these two weeks then they will be in a very good position to continue to press the leaders.
The Man of the Match was undisputedly centre three quarter and goal kicker Danny Cassidy who is proving a jewel of a summer signing.
Click here for Chris Farrow’s album of match photos.
FYLDE: 15 Turner; 14 Lanigan (Kellett 63), 13 Cassidy, 12 Stott, 11 Gilliland (Gould 75); 10 Hunt, 9 Maguire; 1 Bowker (Trippier 72), 2 Parker (Sutcliffe 62), 3 Trippier (Rudkin 30), 4 Walton M, 5 Greenwood, 6 Quinn (Senior 63), 7 Ashcroft, 8 Fairbrother ©.
HULL RUFC: 15 Gunn-McLean; 14 Dawkins (Ratuvou 65), 13 Sukani, 12 Halaifonua, 11 Lineham; 10 Dean (Norman 74), 9 Pinder; 1 Kivalu, 2 Bergmanas (Denman 63), 3 Denman (Beech 37), 4 Jobling, 5 Regardsoe (Ward 29), 6 Renouf (Makaffi 60 Bergmanas 70), 7 Uriburu-Gray, 8 Latu.