Oh we do like to be beside the seaside

After last weeks performance changes were made with Adam Sheldon and Tom Stevens returning, Joe ‘OZIL’ Adnams playing at scrum half and Matty Ringer was back from uni.
At two different ends of the spectrum club legend and all round great chap Stu Hughes made his first second team appearance of the year and there was a debut for Ben Elliot who has made his way through the colts.
The conditions were sunny and ground was hard. The pitch, like most of our forwards, was short and wide, and Wirral were looking to go wide and use the pace on offer.
Fylde kicked off and had an obvious wind advantage that they made the most of. Strong kicks in the Wirral 22 resulted in an infringement at a breakdown and Fylde were given their first opportunity to trouble the scorer. The penalty was slotted and Wirral were behind 3 – nil.
It was only after around 10 minutes the Wirral boys started to play .
Strong lines of running from the pack produced a number of quick efficient Russia’s. (It looks effortless when being done well).
This initially resulted in the ball being passed from one side of the pitch to the other but the last pass failed to go to hand and the move had finished.
However, from the line out Wirral stole the ball and thrusted and thrusted towards the line. When it appeared we had been held up, Timmy Hodson (skipper for the day) swamped over the ball and touched down. Wirral 5 -3 up and the conversion was missed.
The next 15 minutes was all Wirral who were keen to run the ball at every occasion. Ben Brooks on one occasion handing off two players one after the other, making them eat grass, and then running straight into the third defender and going through him. A joy to behold.
The next try came from James Slater. A solid scrum in our 22, Ozil Adnams passing to JC, who delayed his pass impeccably to Brooksy, who cut another line through the defence, ran 50 metres and then executed a two on for James Slater to finish off sublimely.
The conversion was kicked and Wirral 12 -3 up after 18 minutes.
There were fireworks then and Déjà vu followed as the same boys, in the same corner, did it again almost minutes later. Slater with his second try of the game. The conversion was kicked 19 -3 . JC adding the extras.
Wirral were on fire now and in no mood to let up. The forwards playing with real intensity, driving through would be defenders.
The phases were continuous and Jo Adnams was magnificent pulling the strings at 9. In true rugby style the forwards were doing all the work and the backs were scoring the tries.
Tom Stevens scored next, crashing through the line of defence and with his dancing shoes, side stepping through defenders to score under the sticks. JC made no mistake with the extras.
There were no more scores for Wirral this half but I have to mention a true jug evasion from Slater. Sheldon had come off his wing in our own 22 . Sheldon then broke the first line of defence and when one on one with the full back made an audacious 35 yard pass to Slater. It was like slow motion as you could see Sheldons’ arm reach back with the ball to wind up the pass and then as he released the ball.
No one had a clue where the ball was going to end up but to be fair to him it went straight to Slater who was running on at pace but unfortunately couldn’t gather the ball with the try line in his sights
A sublime bit of play from Sheldon, and even better, was that while running, it meant that he didn’t have the breath to talk. Although he more than made up for it after the match talking about his pass.
After 30 minutes of play the tide seemed to change and Fylde got back into the game with two well worked tries. This was aided by the big number 17 who came on and caused all sorts of problems and also some of the decisions going against us.
Half time and Wirral were leading 26-13.
The second half was pretty much played in the Fylde half with Wirral using the wind to gain territory. However, poor kick chases and even worse discipline undid a lot of the hard work.
However, the Wirral line out was running like a well-oiled machine and we managed to score two more tries from it. The first was a catch and drive from 10 metres out resulting in a driving maul where Jo Adnams directed the ball to the back and fell over the line. The conversion was kicked .
The second try coming from the birthday boy Chris Tyson.
Another lineout 5 metres out and Tyson took the ball in the air, only to see the parting of the Fylde defence who decided not to contest the lineout, and indeed to step back away from it, allowing Tyson to catch get to ground and run the 5 metres forward unopposed to score.
Tyson had certainly put his head above the parapet. The conversion was missed and 38 -13 with twenty minutes to go.
Credit to Fylde who stuck to their guns and managed a consolation try from a lineout in the Wirral 22
Chris Tyson with the comment ‘IF IT’S STRAIGHT IT’S A WIRRAL BALL’. Needless to say it was straight and we didn’t win it and Fylde scored not long after.
The game finished 38-18.
A great performance by the boys.
Man of the match was shared between Ben Brooks and Matt Ringer. Both players must be now looking to be pushing for the first team. However, the same could be said about a number of the boys.
Tackle of the match came from Jason Green, who picked up a Fylde boy and put him on his backside. The ref deemed it a dangerous tackle but in my opinion that was a tad harsh.
Next week we welcome third placed Macclesfield to the memorial ground and we will be looking for a good performance.

Donno