North Manchester 1st XV travelled to Fylde last Saturday without the services of injured centre Dave Garvey, fly-half John Eady and Vice-captain Kev Green. North were also rocked by the news that try-machine Steve Donoghue would be missing for 3 months with a knee injury. These important absences seemed to effect North in the opening stages of the game.

Fylde started the game much the better side and opened a 3-0 lead in the opening minutes with a 30 metre penalty after North were penalised at the ruck. Fylde continued to pressure and extended their lead after the home outside-centre ran a devastating line and burst through a gap in the North defence to score under the posts for a converted try and a 10-0 lead.

North were 10-0 down in the opening 10 minutes and had barely touched the ball. North’s set-piece was functioning well and their scrum and line-out was allowing the visiting backs to get their hands on the ball. Player-coach Andy Donley was providing excellent service from scrum-half and the position allowed him to get his hands on the ball which benefited North. Fly-half James Hyland brought a different dimension to North’s game with his strong running and when North’s scrum won one against the head the ball was quickly passed out to Hyland who powered through his opposing numbers tackle and under the posts for a try he converted himself. North were back in the game at 10-7 and began to play some good stuff.

North quickly took the lead after Ian Thompson secured a lineout on the oppositions 22. No. 8 Chris Taylor received the ball and ran through several tackles before setting up a maul 5 metres out. North’s forwards were there in numbers and forced their way over the line. The official looked through a mountain of bodies to blow his whistle and award the try to Ian Thompson who had dived over the line for the score. James Hyland made a difficult kick look easy and North led 14-10.

Fylde were a good side and hit back on the half hour mark after a rolling maul took them all of 25 metres. The home side rumbled on until firing the ball down the backline for the outside centre to exploit the space and go over unopposed for the try. The conversion was added and Fylde led 17-14.

The momentum swung from one way to another in an exciting first half and a break by Jason Malone allowed North to regain the lead. Malone powered inside the opposition’s half before releasing support runner Luke Corrigan. An excellent tackle felled North’s hooker but once again North got to the breakdown in numbers. Andy Donley quickly fed James Hyland who passed to Paul Marsh-Hayward and looped around to receive a return pass and go through the gap for his second try of the game. Once again Hyland converted and North led 21-17 at the interval.

North’s forwards were dominant in the second half with Ian Thompson, Tony Donley and Luke Corrigan having fine games. Captain Gary Pugh made some strong runs inside the oppositions half and one of these allowed North to score again. Pugh broke through from the halfway line after good work by Lee Roberts, North’s big Captain was tackled on the 22 but popped the ball up to No. 8 Chris Taylor to score in the corner after holding off the chasing defence. The conversion was added by James Hyland and North led 28-17.

Although North were fairly dominant the result was never really comfortable until the final minutes. Fylde added a penalty to make it 28-20, but North responded with a penalty of their own from the boot of Hyland, forcing the home side to score two tries to get back into the game.

North had further chances through newcomer Curtis Vincent, full-back Scott Danby and Dave Vickers but the home defence stood firm and the game ended 31-20 in North’s favour.

North have not yet re-captured their form of previous seasons but did enough to win on the day. There were some fine performances from Ian Thompson, Jay Malone and No. 8 Chris Taylor covered every inch of the field. But points win matches and fly-half James Hyland scored 21 points and guided North to victory in a T & C Meats man of the match performance.