Sat 9 May 2026, 15:00
Match report by Allan Foster
It was a dominating performance by Lancashire to beat Yorkshire by six tries to three, 38-18, in front of a good sized crowd at Fylde’s Woodlands Ground.
Tries by Leo Gilliland, Jack Ellam and Isaac Deans in the 1st half gave Lancashire a useful but far from conclusive 17-13 half-time lead. This was built on by tries by Sam Freeman, Matt Sturgess & Danny Rylance as Lancashire stretched clear of their opponents in the 2nd half. Skipper Chris Johnson led from the front and contributed four conversions.
Lancashire’s stifling defence & fluid running was outstanding against a big, bruising Yorkshire squad in this 1st leg of the Bill Beaumont County Championship semi-final.
The core of Lancashire’s squad was made up of 15 players from the neighbouring clubs of Fylde and Preston Grasshoppers and that was reflected in the greater collective understanding of the winners on the day.
The Red Rose county take their 20 point advantage into the 2nd leg at Hull Ionians’ Brantingham Park Ground on 16th May as they work towards what they hope will be a Twickenham Final in early June against either Cornwall or Kent who are competing for the Southern group in the Championship.
Lancashire opened the scoring in the 4th minute when no 8 Tom Ailes broke out of his half and his backline built on this as they swept up the right touchline with winger Leo Gilliland finishing off with a powerful burst in the corner. Johnson’s attempted conversion drifted wide but the home side had set out their stall.
Yorkshire’s fullback Will Baker punished Lancs indiscipline with a penalty kick a couple of minutes later. This was built on by a driving maul from a line-out which ended with hooker Ben Stephenson claiming the try. 5-8 to the visitors.
As Lancashire pressed deep in the Yorkshire half, their version of a driving maul ended with hard working hooker Jack Ellam the last man up. 10-8
It was Yorkshire’s turn to dominate the next portion of the game and a neat break by centre Ben Manderfield set up scrum-half Noah Cowan to sneak in at the corner for a good try. The conversion drifted wide but Yorkshire had their noses in front once again at 10-13.
There were periods in the first 40 minutes when the Yorkshire pack really stretched the Lancashire defence. But the home pack worked very hard to repel the bigger White Rose forwards and the tackling was fierce. Lancashire had an edge in the scrummages yet it was a fine battle in the lineouts between Matt Garrod and the immensely experienced Yorkshire skipper Joe Makin.
Lancashire fought back once again and flanker Isaac Deans finished off a break downfield by fullback Sam Freeman by going under the posts. Chris Johnson converted and the teams went into the break with the home side happiest with a 17-13 lead.
Whilst the Lancashire backrow of Tom Ailes, Isaac Deans and the tyro flanker Ashton Kasam-Sharples haven’t had the benefit of playing together in serious match conditions before, they worked very hard tackling and competing at the breakdowns.
The 2nd half was rather different to the 1st as the Red Rose side took a stranglehold on possession and territory. In the 44th minute another break by Freeman saw him race clear of a despairing defence down the left touchline to score an excellent try. Johnson added the extras from wide out and a 24-13 lead began to look decisive.
Lancashire continued to press deep in Yorkshire’s half and after a number of attempts to break the last line of defence in the 58th minute scrum-half Matt Sturgess took a quick penalty and found a gap to score. Johnson’s conversion made it a 31-13 lead.
Points difference may, after the 2nd leg of the semi-final, be crucial as to who reaches the Twickenham Final so the Lancashire rugby management urged on their charges passionately from the sidelines. In the 65th minute this paid off again as Johnson was stopped inches from the line yet prop Danny Rylance picked up and drove over from close range. The conversion took the score to 38-13 and the certainty of a handsome victory.
Yet there was a late post script as in the 76th minute the Yorkshire backs made ground down their right and powerful winger James Norman put in a grubber kick along the touchline and raced through an under populated Lancs defence to get the touchdown. Who knows how crucial those five points will be at the end of next Saturday’s 2nd leg?
At the final whistle the crowd gave both teams noisy acclamation for an excellent, well fought game in the best spirit of so many Roses matches in the recent and distant past.
LANCASHIRE: Freeman; Dorrington, Russell, Clayton, Gilliland; Johnson, Sturgess; Bowker, Ellam, Rylance, Garrod, Walton, Deans, Kasam-Sharples, Ailes. Reps: Deeks, Kyle-Clay, Birchall, Castle, Rawlings, Williams, Browne, Gould.
YORKSHIRE: Baker; Jukes, Cicognini, Manderfield, Norman; Watts, Cowan; Dickinson, Stephenson, Mitchell, Makin (c), Harrison, Hastie, Henshall, Brankley. Reps: Crowe, Wand, Bairstow, Patrick, Renouf, Keith, Hyde, Hinchliffe.
Man of the Match: Matt Garrod
Referee: Peter Connor
Attendance: 612
Photos from Paul, PAC Photography
