Tom Shard took inspiration from George Ford‘s trio of drop goals against Argentina as he stepped into the pocket last weekend and slotted a match-winning three points in Lymm’s victory over Fylde.
Fylde had scored a 78th-minute penalty try to take a 14-12 lead before sustained pressure in the dying seconds allowed Shard to embrace his inner Jonny Wilkinson and guide his side to a 15-14 away triumph over one of the leading contenders for the National Two North title.
Shard, who kicked all of his side’s points last weekend, recalls the closing stages that will last long in the memory of the 30-year-old fly-half.
He said: “I got the ball for kick off and the ref said ‘you’ve only got 30 seconds’. Did the kick off and somehow managed to get a line-out after their knock-on. We started doing off-loads and it’s raining, I’m thinking we need to play more sensible and credit to the coaches that we’ve nailed our skillsets to deal with any conditions.
“We got near the sticks, our scrum-half went to the bottom of a ruck and I’m walking in to marshal the forwards a bit and our centre James Kimber says ‘get back in the pocket, it’s on!’ The ball got fizzed out to me and thankfully I struck it sweetly.
“It’s what you dream of when you grow up as a half-back watching World Cups and seeing Jonny Wilkinson do it. It’s pretty surreal. I didn’t realise what I’d done until after the game.”
Fylde finished second last season and while newly promoted Lymm held their own in their opening five games, winning two, the result was still considered one of the upsets of the round across the National Leagues.
Shard said: “It’s a great scalp for us, especially considering where Fylde finished last season, but at the same time we believed in ourselves and had a game plan to put into effect. It wasn’t a great surprise to us. We managed the conditions well and this league has proven already that anyone can beat anyone on their day.”
The drop goal appeared to have become a dying breed in recent years, but Shard says Ford’s heroics for England against the Pumas in the World Cup have sparked drop-goal fever at the club.
He added: “We had a laugh about it in training. After we all watched Ford’s drop goals, we kept saying, ‘let’s do drop kicks, let’s do drop kicks’. I didn’t do one the week after as you don’t really need to at this level. It hadn’t crossed my mind, but there’s been a lot of chat about it being my Jonny Wilkinson moment. It seemed like it was a dying art, but it seems it’s coming back in quite a lot which is a good thing because it’s a way to settle in and pick up points, so why not take it if you’ve got the opportunity? You see a lot of people having a go at them in training, especially back-rows and props, but thankfully they don’t do it in games.”
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