Visitors inflict a third defeat in four upon Fylde RFC
Too many errors against a well-drilled side led to Fylde RFC’s eventual downfall against a Sheffield Tigers team who had only won four games all season prior to Saturday.
The Tigers got off to a flying start when they turned defence into attack with only four minutes gone.
After some excellent hands, they scored in the corner through Will Baker and Mark Ireland’s conversion gave them a 7-0 lead.
That advantage was increased fewer than 10 minutes later as a lineout maul went across the line with the ball in the hands of Will Archer.
Trailing 12-0, Fylde needed to wake up and tighten their defence if they were to claw back that early deficit.
Wake up they did as phases in the Tigers’ 22 began to build and so did the penalties, eventually leading to referee George Ounsley awarding a penalty try and showing a yellow card to Ben Manderfield.
Although Ireland landed another penalty, Fylde closed to within one point at the interval with their second try.
David Fairbrother capitalised on the visitors losing the ball in contact, a superb line break proving enough for him to score between the posts with Patrick Bishop’s conversion making the score 15-14.
However, the Tigers took the ball from the second-half restart and produced some fantastic offloads to scythe through the Fylde defence.
They resulted in a converted try for Tom Calladine before another Ireland penalty on 50 minutes gave the visitors a 25-14 lead.
Fylde then saw Tom Davis held up on the line before they were given a route back into the match as Calladine was sinbinned for a high tackle.
This advantage saw Fylde build some phases in the opposition 22, which eventually ended with Mike Walton charging through to the line.
Bishop’s conversion was a simple one, bringing Fylde back to within four points and with 20 minutes still to play.
On came Fylde replacement Adam Lanigan, making his 100th appearance for the club – only for them to be dealt a sucker punch with a little more than 10 minutes of the match remaining.
A fine chip and chase ended with Tigers replacement Barney Goatley taking an offload to score their fourth try of the afternoon.
His try was duly converted and with the Tigers’ 11-point advantage subsequently restored at 32-21, it was a huge ask for Fylde from there on.
Nevertheless, the home players didn’t show any signs of giving up as Davis continued to do what he had done all game and broke the line.
He almost crossed to score, only to be denied by the final defender, but it didn’t prevent scrum-half Lewis Kincart from eventually getting the try.
Bishop converted for a Fylde team which threw everything at their visitors in the time remaining and launched a series of phases at a determined Tigers defence.
Eventually, a turnover was forced in the final seconds of the game which allowed the visitors to kick the ball out of play and secure their hard-fought victory.
Fylde RFC: Atherton (Forster), Turner, Reader, Stott, Smith (Lanigan), Bishop, Kincart, Trippier (Rudkin), Davis, Altham, Morgan (Parker), Garrod, Walton, Dorrington, Fairbrother. Not used: King.
Sheffield Tigers: Baker, Norman, Broadley (Goatley), Manderfield, Wager, Ireland, Holmes (Talbot), Bennett, Archer (Crowe), Denman (Bingham), Fitzsimmons, Hawksworth, Redfern (Anderson), Monks, Calladine (Monks).