Glorious muddy rugby with Fylde

Before the fixture commenced, we held a Minutes Silence for Remembrance Day, which was impeccably followed by everyone .

Incredibly, we've had to wait until November for our first home fixture of the 2015/2016 season. Following on from weeks of warm, dry weather, it was somehow inevitable that 'normal service' would be resumed, and true to form, the games were played on pitches that changed from green to brown, as the skies continued to empty upon us.

Fylde had similar numbers to us and we decided to divide into 4 teams of 12, and run 2 games at the same time, to give everyone as much gametime as possible. On one pitch, the game was going to be refereed, witrh minimal coaching input (by me) and on the other pitch, the game was going to be refereed with additional coaching input (by David).

From the first whistle, Fylde showed themselves to be a very well organised side, who passed the ball well and frequently found space to take the ball closer to (& across !) our tryline. In defence, they tackled well and in a maul/ruck situation often turned the ball over.

For us, we never seemed to have all of our players 'switched on' at the same time. For most of our players, most of the time, the effort and application was very good, but poor decision making at key moments against a good Fylde side were our downfall. In particular, we had players running into contact, when a 3 man overlap was outside them, running parallell to the touch line, when stepping in would have created space, 'ruck inspectors' who stood aside from the rucks and let their teammates do the hard work and the cardinal sin of 'non tackling' when a Fylde player came at them.
On a positive note, the players were a lot more supportive of each other throughout the fixture than previously, the vile weather did nothing to curb anyones enthusiasm to play rugby and everyone contributed to the game.

For fixture #2, we decided to combine the Kendal Hornets and Fylde players together, to make 4 Barbarian teams. This created 4 very evenly matched teams and play recommenced.

This was probably where the best rugby of the morning was played, as players from both clubs got to know their new teammates and everyone played with a newly found spring in their step and a confidence to play simple, straightforward and very positive rugby. From the pitch that I was reffing on, it was great to watch, as the players tackled, rucked, passed, evaded, mauled and ran with great aplomb.
The highlight for me was when one of the Kendal players made a break from his own 22, drew 2 defending players and then did a one handed pass behind his back to a supporting Fylde player, who then got tackled shortly afterwards, but who managed a superb offload to the same Kendal player which completed the move with a well deserved try.

A huge thank you and well done for everyone involved in todays game. For the players who came out in vile conditions to play rugby, the parents who stood on the sidelines and encouraged good play and the coaches from both teams who changed things around at half time to ensure that everyone had a good mornings rugby.

Fylde are one of our favourite clubs to play against and we're looking forwards to the return fixture, where hopefully we'll be able to have a game thats a closer competition.