FYLDE 45 WHARFEDALE 7: match report by Will Judd
Fylde secured their first victory in seven games with their best performance in what feels like forever. It’s their first win in 2026, and what a win it was, bossing the ‘War of the Roses’ convincingly against old friends and rivals Wharfedale.
Fylde started as they meant to go on and came out the blocks flying. As per the entire game, the home side was able to make easy meters with ball in hand. After only a few phases on the ball Fylde were within the opposition 22. Prop Corey Bowker was found sneaking around the backs and his presence was enough to create a man-advantage; he saw the gap 20m out, raced through and dived over for the opening score.
Ten minutes later and Fylde were in again. It was similar phase play which saw the home side into the Greens’ 22, but this time Will Hunt decided a cross-field kick was the best way to break the opponents down. His chip over to Jordan Dorrington justified the fly-half’s decision and Fylde had another try in the left-hand corner as the winger athletically grounded the ball over the line.
Wharfedale did begin to grow back into the game after this however and their trademark lineout maul brought them inches from the Fylde try line. The home side’s last-ditch defence was superb and the maul was halted in the 24th minute, which required Wharfedale to play it out. But what resulted was the worst case scenario for the away team. A predictable pass 5m out from the Fylde try line was read like a book by winger by Leo Gilliland who intercepted and he raced off down the length of the pitch away from forlorn Wharfedale defenders who one by one gave up the chase. Gilliland touched down in front of an ecstatic, large crowd in front of the Clubhouse.
The Fylde Treasurer will be as delighted with the size of the crown – 853 spectators – the highest in all 21 National Two games across the country. The Greens were unlucky in the final minutes of the half when they were adjudged to have knocked on near the Fylde line when, in fact, a Fylde player had touched the ball and a Dale player justifiably claimed the touchdown. The officials didn’t see it that way. The 1st half ended with Fylde leading by 21 points to nil.
The visitors knew they needed to shock Fylde into submission come the second half, which they did. Who guessed it? The lineout and driving maul was their one and perhaps only way back into the game and in the 45th minute hooker Robbie Collinson was the last man up, converted by fullback Archie Haddon. 21-7.
But any suggestion of a concerted comeback by the visitors was silenced immediately with back-to-back Fylde tries in the 50th & 60th minutes. Both tries came from really well executed lineout moves on the halfway line. For the first try Hunt’s trademark ‘chip and catch’ gave his team some valuable meters and Gilliland finished off the score by notching his second try of the day.
Next up it was replacement Adam Lanigan’s turn to get on the scoresheet. No kicks this time, instead the backs kept ball in hand, cutting through the Wharfedale defence. By this time, Hunt was replaced by Ben Turner and fullback Dan Slawson took over the goal kicking and a lead of 35-7. It seemed as though it couldn’t get any worse for the visitors but Rowan Tweedale’s high tackle meant the Yorkshire side would be a man down for the remainder of the game.
Gilliland took the man-advantage to bag his hattrick after recovering a sloppy cross kick to fly away from the defence and dive over in the right-hand corner.
Then at last in the final play, a move like the Fylde of old saw them create and complete a chance from almost their own try line. After meter and meter gained down the left touchline, Lanigan created space for replacement James Sutcliffe to shrug off the challenge of an ambitious tackle from the opposition scrum-half to round off a superb afternoon of rugby. The only unfortunate event was what looked like a serious injury to Will Greenwood in the 57th minute who has had an outstanding first season at the Club.
The Woodlands definitely needed a match like this to encourage their team, after bad luck and poor game management had frustrated them since the turn of the year. They will hope that this performance, which was their very best in a long time, is enough to spark a late season vein of form to end the campaign on a high.
Fylde Coaches’ Man of the Match was prop Corey Bowker who gave a storming 80 minutes display. This Rugby Paper reporter went for the hat trick hero Leo Gilliland.
Click here for Chris Farrow’s fine photo album.
FYLDE: Slawson; Gilliland, Clayton (Lanigan 57), Forster, Dorrington; Hunt (Turner 59), Gould; Bowker, Trippier (Rudkin 65), Rudkin (Lewis 48), Walton, Garrod, Morgan, Parker (Greenwood 49, Sutcliffe 57), Fairbrother.
WHARFEDALE: Haddon; Weston (Morgan 70), Trees, Cicognini, Riddiough; Greig (Bell 52), Morgan (Hall 52); Armstrong, Collinson (Holden 70), Bentley (Charnley 63), Heys, Borrill, Hedgley, Pinder (Tweedale 60), Fawcett.
