Both sides responded to the spring-like weather and looked to play attacking, running rugby from the off in this match, generously sponsored by Forward Corporate Finance. Even allowing for a certain generosity on the part of both defences at times, though, the cascade of tries that awaited could not have been anticipated.

Despite the lesson received in the reverse fixture, that, notwithstanding their lowly league position, Fylde should not be taken lightly, Stortford did not start as aggressively as recent performances might have led us to expect and the visitors dominated possession for the first few minutes. It is true that they hadn't really threatened to breach the Stortford defence, but it was nevertheless against the run of play that the home side took the lead, when Sam Winter almost had time to send a reply to the telegram before stepping forward to intercept a long, floated pass and stride in under the posts to give George Cullen an easy additional 2 points. The visitors quickly proved, though that they were far from toothless, as, 3 minutes later, fullback, Connor Wilkinson came into the back line to take a pass in midfield and expose a flaw in Stortford's defensive organisation to scoot over for an unconverted try out wide. Within 3 minutes, though the Stortford lead was widened, when Ryan Hutler took a good, long pass from George Cullen to dash over in the corner, after Tom Banks had run back at the heart of the Fylde defence, after a handling error by the visitors. The next score was a whole 10 minutes in coming and this saw the scores levelled, as Fylde's speedy left wing, Tom Carleton (with a famous dad, who knew a bit about scoring) stepped in to take a well-targeted, long pass and break a couple of tackles to go in near the opposite touchline. A great conversion by flyhalf, Greg Smith took the scores level and there was a brief feeling of foreboding for the home supporters, who had witnessed the match up at Fylde. Fortunately, though it was only 4 minutes before Hutler bagged his second try, rounding off a move started by one of a number of decisive breaks in midfield by Steve Ball. Cullen matched his opposite number's recent feat and converted from out wide, as he did three minutes later, when Hutler completed a high-speed hat-trick of tries, after Joss Linney had made a great catch from a Cullen tactical kick out of defence to set up position. Not content with three, the left winger notched his fourth touchdown with the last move of the half, dummying over with a teammate free outside, after a good burst up the middle by Matt Tomlinson. Cullen knocked over the routine conversion to take the halftime scoreline to 33-12.

Stortford started the second period on the front foot but were, perhaps guilty of an understandable bout of overconfidence and conceded possession to allow the visitors to counter. This they did to good effect and, with 5 minutes gone they had scored another unconverted try, as Carleton again finished off the best passage of rugby produced by Fylde all day, involving the ball passing through many pairs of hands with a couple of excellent offloads to stretch the home defence to breaking point. Mr Hutler was not done, though and he stepped in off his wing to take a pass in midfield and exploit a defensive mismatch to sprint round a leaden-footed marker to go over for his 5th try after Linney had created position with some good work on the opposite wing. Another good Cullen conversion took his team's total to 40 points. This figure moved to 45 after 19 minutes, when Baxter Wilson reaped the reward of an action-packed performance to pick up a clever crossfield grubber kick from Nick Hankin out wide on the right and although having to check back for an unlucky bounce, the flanker managed to force his way through a cover tackle for a much-celebrated try. Another try went to a Stortford winger - but, this time, Linney! - after 27 minutes, when he used both pace and power to burst through a gap in Fylde's stretched midfield defence, after a quick lineout had been taken from a long Fylde kick out of defence. Undaunted by the flood of scores conceded, the visitors fought back spiritedly and, after a couple of penalties in quick succession they created enough room for second row Oli Parkinson to plunge over out wide for their bonus point try. Another great conversion by Smith took their tally to 24 after 28 minutes. That was as good as it was going to get for Fylde, though and, within two minutes they had conceded another unconverted try, as Will Roberts drove over at the back of a maul from a lineout some 7 metres from the visitors' line, following a penalty. This was not the end of the scoring, with two more converted tries to come in the last two minutes of the game. The first was finished by Chris Smith (on to complete the double hat-trick for Stortford's left wings), after Hankin had made a good run and half break up the middle. Arguably the best score of the match (sorry, Ryan!), though had been saved until last when, straight from the restart, Cullen chipped an inch-perfect kick over the advancing defence, for Winter to gather it on the full, draw the last defender and set Hankin clear to run in from 60 yards, in a perfect execution of a training-ground move. Cullen's routine conversion from in front completed another good day for him from the tee with 8 out of 11 - most of them nowhere near as easy! - and sent the Ladies' day crowd back very happily to the Clubhouse/marquee.

The Man of the Match award, donated this week by great Club supporters, Belcom Cables almost inevitably went to Ryan Hutler, though strong claims were put up by Steve Ball, Dec Caulfield and Baxter Wilson for their non-stop contributions in both attack and defence.