Fylde RFC 45 Wharfedale 7: Hat-trick hero leads Fylde to an emphatic victory
Seven tries saw Fylde secure their first National Two North victory in as many games and pick up a first win of the year.
Last Saturday’s match at the Woodlands saw Fylde fly out of the blocks, starting as they meant to go on.
Able to make easy metres with the ball in hand, they opened the scoring after only six minutes.
They were in the opposition 22 after only a few phases, with man of the match Corey Bowker’s presence enough to create a man advantage before he saw a gap to race through and dive over for a score converted by Will Hunt.
Fylde were in again 10 minutes later after similar phase play took them into Wharfedale’s 22, where Hunt’s crossfield kick found Jordan Dorrington and he athletically grounded the ball over the line.
Hunt converted from the touchline to make it 14-0, after which Wharfedale began to grow into the game.
Their trademark lineout maul took them to within inches of the Fylde line, only for some superb last-ditch defending to halt the maul.
What resulted was the worst case scenario for the visitors as a predictable pass was read like a book by Leo Gilliland.
He intercepted and raced the length of the pitch in touching down for another converted try as, one by one, the Wharfedale defenders gave up the chase.
Trailing 21-0, Wharfedale were unlucky late on in the half when they claimed a try but were adjudged to have knocked on near the Fylde line – when it was a Fylde player who had touched the ball.
However, they scored five minutes into the second half as a lineout and driving maul ended with Robbie Collinson the last man up and Archie Haddon adding the conversion.
Any suggestion of a concerted comeback was silenced by back-to-back Fylde tries in the 50th and 60th minutes, both of which came from well-executed lineout moves on the halfway line.
Gilliland crossed for his second of the afternoon, following a chip and catch from Hunt who also landed the conversion.
That was followed by a try for Adam Lanigan, with Fylde’s backs having kept the ball in hand when cutting through the Wharfedale defence..
Dan Slawson’s conversion made it 35-7 before Rowan Tweedale’s high tackle saw the visitors reduced to 14 men for the remainder of the game
Gilliland capitalised on the man advantage to complete his hat-trick with 10 minutes left, recovering a sloppy kick before flying away from the defence and diving over in the right-hand corner.
The final play of the game saw Fylde complete the scoring with a move from almost their own try line.
With a number of metres having been gained down the left touchline, Lanigan created space for replacement James Sutcliffe who shrugged off an ambitious tackle to score and round off a superb afternoon of rugby.
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.