Fylde ace Bingham on Jamaica tour

A call-up to tour with the Jamaica seven-a-side rugby team means Anthony Bingham is out of Fylde RFC's home clash with Ampthill & District at the Woodlands tomorrow.
Anthony Binghams Jamaican call-up rules hime out of Fyldes game with Ampthill & District tomorrowAnthony Binghams Jamaican call-up rules hime out of Fyldes game with Ampthill & District tomorrow
Anthony Binghams Jamaican call-up rules hime out of Fyldes game with Ampthill & District tomorrow

That has led to a major shake-up in the back division.

It means that skipper Chris Briers reverts from centre to last line of defence; Jordan Dorrington switches to the wing to accommodate the absence of Bingham.

That means a different centre partnership of Ralph Dowds and Connor Wilkinson.

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Greg Nicholls is available again, so he takes his place at scrum-half, replacing Connor Dever.

Fylde player-coach Paul Arnold, who misses the visit of Ampthill as he completes a two-match suspension, said: “Bingham will be on tour for three weeks with Jamaica.

“The squad does not leave until Sunday, so he could have played on Saturday, but we spoke to him and it was agreed that we didn’t want him to risk being injured.

“He is 32 years old and he may not get a chance like this again.”

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Tomorrow Fylde are back on home terrain, where they have won their last three matches but they suffered a setback last Saturday when they lost to a bottom-of-the-table Blaydon side winning their first match of the season.

The consolation for Fylde was that they picked up a losing bonus point and a four-try bonus point.

Arnold was left to reflect on the vagaries of rugby.

He said: “We thought players were starting to get it after we beat Hull Ionians and then I got suspended, another player George Nott got injured, Simon Griffiths was unavailable and in the match itself we lost two props through injury and we had to go to uncontested scrums against Blaydon.

“We had been more than holding our own up to that point, but given our record over the years at Blaydon when we so rarely win, if you had offered me beforehand two points I would probably have taken it.”