Fylde RFC get set for their long-awaited return to action

The most long-awaited and unpredictable National League rugby union season gets underway tomorrow and Fylde RFC boss Alex Loney can’t wait.
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Fylde head to Tynedale RFC for their first National Two North fixture in almost 18 months and their first competitive game since Loney and Chris Briers were named joint-head coaches in early January.

After the whole of last season was written off by Covid-19, Loney can’t wait to get back on the team bus to Northumberland.

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He told The Gazette: “We’re absolutely thrilled that we’re about to start and we’re ready to go.

Connor Wilkinson has been in tryscoring form during pre-season Picture: Chris FarrowConnor Wilkinson has been in tryscoring form during pre-season Picture: Chris Farrow
Connor Wilkinson has been in tryscoring form during pre-season Picture: Chris Farrow
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“The boys and everyone at the club are desperate to get league rugby back on and, come Saturday, we will all be buzzing.

“It will take a little while to get everyone used to the weekly nuts and bolts again of Tuesday and Thursday training, Friday prep and Saturday games. It will feel strange at first after so long.”

Everyone is in the same boat, which is why Fylde’s new interim rugby chairman Mark Nelson said the playing field for this league campaign is more level than ever before.

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Loney agrees and added: “No-one really has a clue what it’s going to be like. We could try to pick out favourites or frontrunners from what we know but it’s all a bit of an unknown.

“Everyone asks about ambition and we’ve made no bones about the fact we want to perform well in this competition, and if we do and we win games, we’ll be competing towards the top of the table.

“We were second when the last season ended, so that’s the stake we’ve put in the ground but we don’t have a God-given right to say we are contenders – that’s disrespectful to everyone else.

“We think that, on our day, we will be good enough to beat anyone in this league. We have a lot of attacking threats and it’s just about getting everything right, so we’ll see where we are after a few games.”

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Fylde played two warm-up matches at the Woodlands, defeating Preston Grasshoppers before a two-point defeat to National One club Sale FC last Saturday.

Loney said: “In the Hoppers game we had 32 players involved. All the boys valued being out there but it was hard to get combinations together. It was sort of stop-start and we felt we could have played better.

“Against Sale, we still used 24 but were a lot more accurate and the general play was much closer to what we wanted to achieve.

“We felt we were in the ascendancy for much of the game and were happy with how we performed.”

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The Fylde squad from the 2019-20 campaign remains largely intact, while spectators on Saturday enjoyed the familiar sight of Tom Carleton and Connor Wilkinson back in tryscoring form.

“We do have some new faces and some who feel like new signings because they signed last summer and never played a game last season,” explained Loney.

“We also have a massive core who remain from the previous seasons to drive us forward.

“They include really good players like Tom and Connor, who seem to have been with us for a long time but are still under 25 and will continue to get better. We also have a good bunch of youngsters who will get first-team rugby.”

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Fylde’s first home game will be against Loughborough Students a week tomorrow but first comes that trip to the North East.

“It’s going to be a bit weird getting on the bus again, ” said Loney.

“Enjoying that time together is a sign that normality is coming back.”

Elsewhere, Dominic Moon has been appointed coach to the Fylde Hawks second XV squad at the Woodlands.

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The former Fylde back-rower (2015/16) joined the club after six seasons at Preston Grasshoppers. Moon also played for Waterloo and Halifax before spending the past four seasons at Rossendale.

Fylde have a proud tradition of bringing through second XV players into the senior set-up and Moon’s appointment is designed to boost integration between the squads.

He said: “I’m very happy to be returning to the club, opening a new chapter as the Hawks coach.

“The lads are a breath of fresh air, an awesome group, and it will be great to help and support them.”

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Moon’s new side won last weekend’s warm-up game against Wigan, 69-5, and start their league season at Blackburn a week tomorrow.

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