In one of the most eagerly awaited games in any league this season, the game of the day was here at Park Lane as Sedgley Park and Fylde, the two undefeated sides in National Two North, came head-to-head.
The weather put paid to the game both sides wanted to play, but believe me, both sides served up a classic game and a contest that kept everyone on their toes for the full 80 minutes.
Sedge was first out of the blocks on 4 minutes, with a well-worked opening try by second row Connor James, after great work down the right-hand flank creating space for the James to go over for the try. Steve Collins converted. Fylde are not sitting top of league for no reason, with a perfect 100% record, and their dominance soon saw a well-crafted, brilliant run at blistering pace by Thomas Grimes, through the middle, for an unconverted first try on 12 minutes. An enforced temporary stop, due to a serious head injury to Fylde’s left wing and try scorer Thomas Grimes on 28 minutes, saw the player having leave the field the field. This took the momentum out of the game for both sides, for a short while.
As the game returned back to normal tempo, Fylde’s dominance seemed to get to Sedge and the frustration resulted in Bob Birtwell receiving a yellow card for tackling the man without the ball. This did not deter the ambition of Sedgley, as the home side took the game back to Fylde and this time the visitors falling foul of lazy play. A penalty by Steve Collins saw Tigers extend their lead by 2 points on 27 minutes. This was against the run of play as Fylde had been in the ascendancy for most of the game with a high tempo, organised defence, supplemented by some sublime running rugby. This led to the last try of the half as Fylde first narrowed the Sedgley defence, then exploited the space out wide, for hooker Ben Gregory to score Fylde’s second, uncovered try on 37 minutes.
Halftime Sedge 10 – Fylde 13
If the first half was in Fylde’s favour, the second 40 belonged to Sedge and in particular Tigers forward power. A kicked penalty by Steve Collins brought the game level on 54 minutes. This gave Sedgley Park the impetus and belief. A brilliantly executed catch and drive line out had Fylde in disarray and led to a penalty try on 60 minutes. This also saw a yellow card for Fylde’s Corrie Harlan.
Fylde now decided to go tactical, with some clever kicking by fly half Greg Smith and from this saw a well worked breakout that saw centre, Connor Wilkinson, dot down between the post for a converted try on 62 minutes. Sedge now upped the ante which saw brilliant forward play dominating all areas of the game. Another kicked penalty by Steve Collins on 65 minutes nudged Tigers into the lead. There followed more intense pressure as Tigers turned the screw on the visitors. Another great kick to touch saw a repeat of the 2nd Sedgley try, with a great catch and drive and hooker Danny Maher over for Sedge’s third try. Steve Collins converted.
The game played out with Sedge searching for the bonus point win, but Fylde dug deep, and the game ended with a well-deserved Tigers victory. It was a great afternoon’s rugby played by two exception teams. As the excellent Fylde pre-match report stated. ‘Something has to give’. It did
Sedgley Park 30 (4) Fylde 20 (0)
Pictures of the Game from Dave Morton can be found HERE
You can also see pictures from Glen Hutton on his Facebook Page HERE