Hoppa at Fylde, well to tell the truth a touch of grey surfing found a good report on the Fylde game. A bit cold for old Hoppa to be out and about. Thanks to Fylde for the report and Chris Farrow for the photo.
Fylde 23 Blaydon 19
Fylde out muscled Blaydon and earned a deserved victory over the 2nd placed side in National One at the Woodlands. There have been so many occasions in the past in which the North Easterners have beaten up a Fylde pack and disrupted their normal, open and flowing style of play - 10 wins in the 11 fixtures between the clubs. So it was fascinating to see the Fylde pack battle hard to gain marginal supremacy in a tight and hard fought game. After the game, Head Coach Mark Nelson gave his man of the match award to "the Fylde pack" which summed things up very well.Both teams gave fine defensive performances and, in consequence, their respective attacks found it hard to find gaps and finish off the numerous promising running moves launched.
Blaydon are the form team in N1 and went into this game with eleven successive victories behind them. It's easy to see why given their strong, mobile forwards and plenty of pace in their backline. But put under acute pressure by the aggressive Fylde eight, they made numerous errors and their normally faultless kicking game didn't really work.
The game started with five minutes of continuous Fylde possession as they went through many phases, recycling the ball and looking for gaps in the Blaydon defence. But the first scrummage looked very ominous for the home side as they were pushed off their own ball in disarray. As it turned out, this was a one-off as Fylde got their set piece back in order and more or less achieved parity in subsequent scrummages against the excellent opposition & former Newcastle Falcons frontrow of Ward, Hall & Kilbraier. The lineouts were shaded by Fylde as hooker Jonny Roddam's throwing radar worked almost perfectly and they nicked some opposition ball.
With Blaydon's influential fly-half Andrew Baggett unusually missing a kickable early penalty, it wasn't until the 18th minute that the stalemate was broken. Fylde attacked deep in the Blaydon half and from a ruck 5m out from the line the opportunistic Paul Arnold picked up a loose ball and dived over for a try. Arnold was to have an excellent afternoon, always the 'go to' man for ball carrying and neat offloading. With normal goal kicker Chris Johnson on the bench, it was stand-in Ryan de la Harpe who took most of the kicking responsibility but the scrum-half hooked the attempted conversion well wide. 5-0 to Fylde.
It took Blaydon just three minutes to respond and they did so with the best move of the day. The pack secured good ball inside the Fylde half and they worked the ball swiftly down their left. Neat inter passing and pace near the touchline put in former Fylde & KGS player, Tommy Banks, and he outstripped the defence to score with aplomb. Baggett's conversion went wide so the scores were even. Blaydon's backline looked very dangerous in this phase of the game, frequently breaking the first Fylde tackle but somehow either a last defender saved the day or the visitors were let down by faulty handling. They also rather wasted good possession with some poor infield kicking by Andrew Baggett which merely allowed Fylde to counter attack through their speedy back three of Oli Brennand, Chris Briers & Olly Viney.
Fylde painstakingly worked their way back into the game and launched numerous attacks through backs and forwards. Scoring opportunities were rather spurned as either the last pass went astray or excellent tackling kept them out. Their best move of the half saw winger Oli Brennand receive the ball wide left in the 36th minute and he cut infield to shred the visitors' defence. As he was closed down by the final defender his overhead pass failed to find a supporting team mate who was tackled off the ball by a cynical defender. Referee Shane Lewis gave the penalty but rather generously spared the guilty player from a yellow card.
Justice was done when from the kick to the corner the Fylde eight launched a powerful driving maul which ended with Paul Arnold claiming his second touchdown amidst a pile of bodies. Once again the conversion attempt went awry but Fylde had a deserved 10-5 lead at the interval.
Fylde dominated the third quarter with almost constant possession inside the Blaydon half. In the 46th minute following numerous phases of Fylde possession the ball was moved left, Oli Brennand made space before passing inside to fullback Chris Briers who took the ball at pace through a gap in the defence and ploughed over the line with a couple of Blaydon players hanging on to him. Although rather a willowy build, Briers is immensely strong when in possession.
Fly-half Richard Kenyon now took over the goal kicking responsibilities but he had no better luck and it drifted wide of the posts. 15-5 to Fylde. It remained rather one way traffic as Fylde continued to dominate territory although finding as hard as ever to create scoring chances against the rock of Blaydon's defence. But in the 57th minute Blaydon committed an offence inside their own half and centre Scott Barrow kicked the penalty into the corner. From the subsequent lineout the Fylde pack once more launched a powerful maul and drove towards the Blaydon line. This time it was finished off by replacement prop Simon Griffiths who marked his return to the club with a try, and a bonus point scoring one at that. The conversion kick was missed once more but Fylde had established a clear 20-5 advantage.
But Blaydon
Fylde came back once more and pressurised Blaydon on their 22m line. A Blaydon defender interfered in a ruck in the 68th minute and Ryan de la Harpe converted a straightforward penalty chance in front of the posts for a 23-12 lead. Minutes later, there was a repeat but the penalty was from slightly further out. This time the kick sailed high but cannoned off a post back into play and was cleared.
Blaydon dominated the last ten minutes as they tried to rescue their long unbeaten record. In the 80th minute the North Easterners kicked a penalty to the corner and gave Fylde some of their own medicine with a good driving maul that ended with no 8 Jason Smithson last man up to claim the try. Baggett converted well and, very briefly, there was just four points in it. But Blaydon hadn't the time to launch another attack and Fylde claimed a deserved win.
The only troubling moment of the match for the home side was an injury to young flanker Ben Vernon who had a very good game. He suffered a bad strain to an ankle and was helped off the pitch in the 52nd minute to be replaced by Cameron Thompson. Everyone at the Club wishes him a speedy recovery.
With Ealing Trailfinders earning a close win at Tynedale, they stretched their lead at the top of the National One table to seven points with Blaydon maintaining 2nd place. Fylde move up two places to 7th. Their game at Sedgley Park next Saturday in an all Lancashire clash will be important for both clubs but particularly so for Sedgley who are struggling in 14th place, 12 points adrift of the 13th club Wharfedale.
FYLDE: 15 Chris Briers; 14 Olly Viney, 13 Stephen Briers, 12 Scott Barrow, 11 Oli Brennand; 10 Richard Kenyon, 9 Ryan de la Harpe; 1 Dan Birchall, 2 Jonny Roddam, 3 Peter Altham (Simon Griffiths 49), 4 Paul Arnold, 5 Roger Banks, 6 Evan Stewart, 7 Ben Vernon (Cameron Thompson 52), 8 Sam Beaumont.
Non-playing replacements: Tom Burtonwood, Martin Wallwork, Chris Johnson.
BLAYDON: 15 Nathan Bailey; 14 Tom Jeffrey (Gavin Painter 59), 13 Charles Incledon, 12 Tommy Banks, 11 Simon Barber; 10 Andrew Baggett, 9 Hall Charlton (Jonny Burn 58); 1 Robbie Kalbraier, 2 Matthew Hall (Nico Nyemba 63), 3 Micky Ward (Robbie Morris 63), 4 Chris
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