Fylde RFC's mixed feelings over having a weekend off after a tough start to the season

​Alex Loney admits this week’s break from National Two North matches is something of a mixed blessing for Fylde RFC.

The Woodlands club have the first of their five scheduled weekends off this season, either side of the Christmas and New Year break.

They do so with Fylde having lost 40-24 at Huddersfield last time out: a fifth defeat in seven for an injury-hit team which is 11th in the table.

Asked if the break had come at a good time for Fylde, the joint-head coach told the Gazette: “Yes and no. We’ve had lads who have played a lot of minutes and we’re going to get some extra players coming back.

“At the same time though, we want to put the result right from last week so there are mixed feelings.

“Sometimes the breaks come at a good time. Other times they don’t.”

Fylde’s injury issues have meant exposure to senior rugby for a number of youngsters.

Ideally, they might have been drip fed into the team alongside more experienced players but Loney believes their involvement will pay off in time.

He added: “We’ve been up against it, injury-wise and wins-wise.

“We aren’t where we want to be in terms of wins and losses, but we’ve had some players who have come in and shown up well.

“We’ve also had some who have a lot more to do before they can expect to play week in week out.

“Someone said to me last weekend that we’ve used 37 players so far, which is a crazy number.

“Long-term, we’re going to reap the rewards but we’ve got to be realistic within the squad.

“When you have a bigger selection pool, where we have lads back fit and competing, it’s going to be a tougher selection and that drives the standards up.

“When you’ve got a depleted squad, you can’t necessarily rotate your players as much.

“Every coach wants the full capacity of their squad available as much as possible and that’s what we’re working hard to do.”

Fylde had looked to go into the break with victory at a Huddersfield team which had only won one match prior to last weekend.

Having fallen 21-7 behind in the first half, two unanswered tries got Fylde to within four points at the break.

However, Huddersfield responded with a pair of quickfire tries at the start of the second period in opening up a 16-point lead at 33-17.

Although Fylde cut the gap to nine points with 10 minutes left, a late penalty try secured the hosts’ victory as the Woodlands squad conceded 40 points for the fourth time in five games.

Loney reflected: “It’s another game that’s come and gone in terms of an opportunity to win, play well, pick up league points and gain some confidence.

“We’ve come up short again in the game but there were loads of things we felt we did well.

“We forced pressure, forced yellow cards, had chances to score, but then I think we lost concentration and kind of dropped off with basic errors at times.

“We gave them a few easy scores. It was a tight game and we managed to give ourselves a shot when we scored late on.

“Then we got under pressure and gave away a penalty try right at the end - and it’s an opportunity lost.

“It was a disappointing day. It was within our control but everything we’re trying to do on the pitch, we’re just falling short.”