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Rugby Lions went down to their second defeat of the
season away from home at Fylde producing a lacklustre performance at the
impressive £1.2million facilities at Woodlands, Lytham St. Annes
(£3.50 entrance, £1 programme, excellent beer with
discount for members!!!)
Fylde started the game well, whereas Lions resembled
rabbits caught in headlights. Just like last week, the home side scored
two tries in the first ten minutes although this time one was converted
to give a lead of 12-0. That is where the similarities to the Blaydon
game ended however, as the sublime running rugby from both teams in that
match was replaced with an error strewn, scrappy encounter with no flow
at all.
Fylde realised early on that the referee was not
going to penalise offside at the breakdowns and they exploited this to
the full, sometimes coming in from behind the back feet, but on the
Lions side and still getting away with it. The painfully slow ball
produced by the Lions exacerbated this.
The Lions pack was being completely out-muscled in
the loose and the scrum was decidedly rocky which does not bode well for
when the ground gets heavy.
James Hawken reduced the lead with a penalty and just
before half time Lions almost scored when Paul Thompson intercepted a
loose pass on Lions 22. He looked likely to go all the way but was
caught about 10 metres short of the line. He looked for support and
passed to Ade Hales who was on his shoulder. Ade looked certain to score
but was tackled a metre short and lost the ball forward. Lions then had
a scrum in the shadow of Fylde’s posts but Tommy Turner chose a drop
goal attempt, which was charged down.
The person who covered most of the ground was
undoubtedly Angela, Fylde’s young physio who sprinted on to treat
"injuries" at virtually every stoppage in play.
Half Time: - Fylde 12 Rugby Lions 3
Lions began the second half with much more purpose
and Matt Goode chipped ahead and was just beaten to the touchdown to
deny the try. Rugby then threw everything at Fylde and were camped on
the home try line for some time. Some excellent defence managed to repel
Lion’s attacks, sometimes inches short of the line. A drive from Lions
was stopped when a Fylde player blatantly killed the ball five metres
short of the line. He must have feared the worst, as this is the sort of
professional foul that the yellow card was introduced for. Amazingly,
although the referee penalised him, he didn’t even speak to the culprit.
Rugby spurned the penalty kick and put the ball in touch to keep the
pressure on. From a ruck on the home try line Toby spun the ball to
Tommy Turner who was hit with a shoulder charge from a defender who was
so far offside that even the referee saw him. Yellow card? (what do you
think?) This time Lions took the penalty to come away with only three
points to show for all their efforts and for Fylde to come away with
fifteen players still on the pitch.
Lions were then pinned into their own 22 by some
astute kicks utilising what wind there was. With four minutes on the
clock remaining plus "injury" time, a clearance kick from Matt Goode was
taken by the Fylde full-back who deftly chipped the ball over the
oncoming defenders and flipped the ball to his left to the supporting
player to score near the posts. The kick was converted to make the score
19-6.
With time running out Lions were again applying the
pressure, and from another penalty conceded in front of their own posts,
Fylde were defending desperately. Toby took a short one and fed Wilf who
handed off two players before slipping the ball out the back of his hand
to Ade who had popped up on the right wing. Ade pirouetted out of the
tackle to score in the corner. Hawks needed this kick to register the
bonus point and he made it superbly. The final whistle followed
immediately.
This was a poor performance from Rugby and Fylde
deserved the victory. The precision passing from last week was strangely
missing and when the backs did get any ball they were pedestrian and
lacking any cutting edge. The ball was thrown down the line without
drawing the tackle so that when it reached the wings they had about four
defenders on them. Ade Hales is now obviously a marked man and he needs
space to work his magic. |
