Fylde RFC 27 Tynedale 19: Fylde fight back to pick up another victory

Saturday’s game at the Woodlands opened with Tynedale giving Fylde a fourth-minute reminder of their impressive form.

Freddie Reader’s attempted clearance kick was charged down, allowing the visitors to break the Fylde defensive ranks.

A superb crossfield kick ended with Alex Dryden touching down in the corner, with Cam Grant’s conversion giving Fylde work to do early on.

That work started swiftly as they scored a first try of the afternoon nine minutes later.

A clever lineout routine ended with Matt Garrod dummying his way over to score in the corner.

As well as Fylde’s maul was working, the same – unfortunately – couldn’t be said of Will Hunt’s kicking at goal as he missed the first of four attempted conversions.

Fylde pushed on and, with the Woodlands in full voice for a driving maul, a monumental effort ended with Rob Williamson squeezing over to score his first try for the club.

That gave Fylde the lead for the first time as they went 10-7 ahead after 20 minutes, only for Tynedale to respond six minutes later.

An utterly dominant lineout maul ended with Joe Hanning stretching over and touching down as, although a tricky conversion was missed, Tynedale restored their two-point lead at 12-10.

Tynedale then saw Owen Vassallo yellow-carded before a controversial end to the half came when a no-arms challenge on Lewis Quinn was missed, as well as the denial of a tryscoring opportunity ending with only a penalty awarded without a card or penalty try.

It meant Fylde went into half-time trailing 12-10, a scoreline they immediately set about overturning in the second period.

Some pinpoint passes ripped open the defence three minutes in and opened the gap for Reader to score his 11th try of the season, finishing a well-worked team move down the left touchline.

Hunt was successful from the tee and the home side had a five-point advantage at 17-12.

They were in again 12 minutes later as replacement winger Cam Smith muscled his way over in the corner with his first touch of the ball.

With Fylde suddenly pressing for victory, Tynedale saw another yellow come their way as Hanning was the latest recipient.

That preceded a Fylde scrum, which culminated in a lovely miss pass from Hunt seeing Adam Lanigan score in the left corner to put Fylde 27-12 in front on 63 minutes.

With a win for the visitors now seemingly out of reach, a losing bonus point was still an objective.

Almost all of the remaining play featured Tynedale on the attack, but some superb Fylde line defence denied them.

That was until the final play of the game when centre Rhys Beekmans drove over the line.

The drop kick conversion was taken quickly, but there was no time for the visitors to add to their total and they missed out on their bonus by one point.

Fylde RFC: Reader, Turner (Smith), Clayton, Forster, Lanigan, Hunt, Kincart; Rudkin, Williamson (Deeks), Altham (King), Walton (Morgan), Garrod, Quinn (Ashcroft), Harrison, Fairbrother.

Tynedale: Rodgers (Tully), Dryden (Scott), Grant, Beekmans, Hutton, Leslie, Telford; Hughes (Turnill), Keller, Caudle, McSorley, Nankivell (Wearmouth), Hanning, Turnbull, Vassallo (Nankivell). Not used: Wood.