Fylde RFC youngster justifies selection

Sale Sharks’ dual-registered half-back Will Wootton was available for the trip to Cheshire but Fylde showed faith in Gould for a fifth successive National Two North fixture.

He definitely played his part as Fylde ruthlessly overturned an 11-point deficit by scoring five tries in the final half-hour.

Joint-head coach Chris Briers told The Gazette: “Wootton had an injury over Christmas and has since been a travelling reserve with Sale.

“He was available on Saturday but we hadn’t seen much of him recently.

“We thought it was right to go with Ben and he has certainly produced the goods.”

As for the overall team display, having watched Fylde bounce back from their home defeat by Wharfedale, Briers added: “We started pretty quick and looked like we would carry on for a big score.

“After the first try we started to make mistakes and they capitalised.

“We caused ourselves some problems after half-time and they were very good at taking opportunities – but then we started to click and strung some good tries together, which was pleasing.”

Fylde now have a weekend off before facing one of the season’s biggest challenges at the Woodlands – a visit from second-placed Rotherham on February 10.

“We gave the players a night off this week but now we’ll work hard to build on last weekend’s win,” said Briers.

“We want to play like we did in that last half-hour and make it a complete performance.”

Rotherham also take a break this weekend, when four matches will be played in N2N but Fylde are sure to remain in fourth spot.