Students teach Fylde players a lesson

It was another bad day at the office away from the Woodlands for Fylde as they lost 46-17 against Loughborough Students.
Simon Griffiths had a head injurySimon Griffiths had a head injury
Simon Griffiths had a head injury

This was their seventh away defeat, six of them by considerable margins.

It’s difficult to equate their gutsy home performances with the succession of heavy losses on the road.

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Loughborough Students started strongly and forced a number of early penalties as the Fylde scrummage came under pressure.

Their goal kicker, fly-half Owen Waters, opened the scoring in the second minute after a scrummage offence.

In the 12th minute the Students’ skipper, Isaac Miller, was sinbinned for not retreating at a penaltybut the home team hit back and exploited another Fylde offence when Walters kicked his second penalty in the 16th minute.

A bigger blow for the visitors was to loose Simon Griffiths at the same time with a head injury, replaced by Jake Pope.

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Despite Fylde pressure, Waters kicked a third penalty on 26 minutes for a 9-0 lead.

On the half-hour Fylde converted pressure into points.

From a lineout near the Students’ line, Adam Lewis peeled off a driving maul and plunged over for the opening try of the game with Greg Smith converting well.

Their comeback was halted in the 37th minute when Waters kicked another penalty followed a collapsed scrummage.

The Students built on this with a try just before the break when Rotimi Segun broke away and fed Gair Currie who crossed, Waters converting for a 19-7 half-time lead.

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Ben Vernon suffered an injury and was replaced during the break by Paul Arnold.

Fylde attacked immediately at the beginning of the second half but the ball was spilled over the Students’ line.

They were to pay in the 46th minute as the ball again went to ground, Loughborough winger Yiannis Loizias hacking downfield and beating the covering defence to the touchdown.

Waters then spotted an overlap and full-back Will Edwards sprinted in for his side’s third try and a 29-7 lead.

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Fylde’s heads didn’t drop and they were soon back on the attack as Loughborough suffered their second yellow card with Matt Macpherson trooping off to the sinbin.

Fylde took immediate advantage as they pressed. deep inside the Students’ half, and Jake Pope drove over.

The Students continued to feed off Fylde indiscipline as Waters extended the lead with a penalty before Edwards offloaded to George Davis, who broke to score the Students’ fourth try.

Waters’ conversion made it 39-7, a lead that was extended through Sam Poynton’s converted effort, before Alex Loney scored a last-minute consoltation try.

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