Fylde RFC 61 Harrogate 14: Smith stars on his home debut

In order to do this, they had to break down a scrappy and physical Harrogate side which had previously secured a first win of the season against Chester.

It was Fylde who opened the scoring after a scruffy opening 12 minutes as Cameron Smith chased down his chip infield and put a considerable amount of pressure on the defender.

The ball was spilled, allowing Smith to score a gift of a try with Patrick Bishop’s simple conversion opening his tally for the afternoon.

Things got worse for the visitors when Fylde were handed a man advantage following a yellow card for flanker Ben Richardson.

A second try came 20 minutes in, when Bishop received the ball inside the Harrogate half before producing a dummy and a subsequent offload.

That split the defence and enabled Alex Clayton to score under the posts as Fylde built a 14-0 lead.

However, they handed the visitors the chance to launch a comeback as skipper Toby Harrison was carded in the 23rd minute.

It resulted in a period of pressure from the visitors, culminating in seven points as Jack Gilmartin scored from close in.

Then, just shy of the half-hour mark, a breakaway runner was brought down illegally by Smith.

The referee deemed it a high tackle and awarded Harrogate a penalty try, making it 14-14 and leaving Fylde momentarily down to 13 men for good measure.

Five minutes before half-time, however, Harrogate’s Will Hill was also sent to the sinbin which resulted in Bishop touching down after sustained pressure.

He added the conversion before doing the same on the stroke of half-time when Lewis Quinn scored Fylde’s fourth try for a 28-14 lead.

Another yellow card came Harrogate’s way as the second half began, Harrison capitalising by knocking two defenders out of the way to go under the posts for another converted try.

With Pete Altham’s appearance off the bench marking his 150th outing for the club, Fylde celebrated by opening the floodgates in the final quarter.

They scored four further tries in that time, starting on 61 minutes when some patient phases ended with Ben Turner touching down in the corner and Bishop adding an excellent conversion.

Another try followed moments later as Fylde broke through the Harrogate defence from the kick-off.

That ended with Smith going over for his second try, Bishop landing his seventh conversion to make it 49-14.

Try number eight came with nine minutes remaining as Smith completed his home debut in style by bringing up his hat-trick.

Lucas Atherton took over the goalkicking duties from Bishop and landed the conversion before Fylde’s final try of the afternoon came on 76 minutes.

Harrison was the man responsible, rounding off a superb afternoon of rugby by touching down in the corner for his second try.

Victory keeps Fylde fourth in the table, five points behind Sheffield after their loss to Leeds Tykes.

Fylde RFC: Atherton, Turner, Stott, Clayton (Quinn), Smith, Bishop (Forster), Gaughan, Rudkin (Bowker), Davis, Trippier (Altham), Walton (Morgan), Garrod, Quinn (Dorrington), Harrison, Fairbrother.

Harrogate: Metcalf, Chell, Dobson, Brook, Seru (Pettitt, Seru), Steene (Sharma), Pettitt (Wickham), Percival, Maycock (Fretwell), Peace, Russell, Gilmartin (Tokaduadua), Hill, Richardson (Shepherd), Dodds.