Fylde RFC bosses have plans in place for the 2026/27 season
Fylde RFC won’t ‘sit and sulk over what might have been’ this season and already have plenty of plans in place for 2026/27.
So says joint-head coach Chris Briers after the curtain came down on another National Two North campaign with last Saturday’s 36-22 defeat at Hull Ionians.
His thoughts have already turned to the next one and Briers told The Gazette: “We’ve made sure we’re keeping the majority of the squad together for next season.
“New players are coming in and there are usually a few who come on board later on.
“If not, we’re happy with what we’ve got and confident we’ll have a competitive squad.”
As end-of-season games go, last weekend’s was certainly competitive, though Fylde fell behind after nine minutes and never regained the lead.
“We scored first and played really well at times,” said Briers.
“We scored some fantastic tries, one of them straight off the training ground.
“We played some good, accurate phases but made unforced errors too.
“At this time of year, you can find yourself really on it or right off it, but we were somewhere in between."
Ionians improved by almost 30 points on last season to take fourth place, the position occupied by Fylde in 2024/25.
The Woodlands club finished two places and four points worse off than last season.
Briers reflected: “Of course we had injuries but there were plenty of games that could have gone either way, including games in that spell after Christmas (a six-game losing streak) which took us away from the top group.
“We’ve shown we can compete with the top teams and we look forward to next season.”
Two blocks of pre-season training have already been fixed, the first starting on June 30.
The current campaign isn’t over for Briers’ fellow Fylde boss Alex Loney, who will lead Lancashire into a home-and-away double-header against Yorkshire to determine which of the Roses rivals contests the Bill Beaumont County Championship final at Twickenham in June.
Asked if he was tempted to rejoin the Red Rose fold as a coach, Briers replied: “I do look forward to a break at this time of year but I always loved playing for Lancashire and the County Championship had a different feel.
“Unlike the week in, week out pressure of the league, this is a short, sharp thing. It feels like a new season and gives you a new lease of life.
“I didn’t like it when you could win all your games but still not go through, so at least it’s straightforward this year and fingers crossed for Lancashire.”