Fylde travel to Brantingham Park on Saturday (ko 14.00) to take on Hull Ionians in an EDF National Trophy 2nd round game a week before they make the very same trip in National Three (North). Hull is a fine city but two trips there in successive weeks may be one too many for the Woodlands club! This tie will be the sixth time in succession that the Lancastrians have been drawn away in this competition.

Whoever is selected, Nelson's message to his players will be a simple one: "The squad will be encouraged to play open rugby and go out and enjoy themselves. They are constantly under pressure in the hothouse atmosphere of league games and Saturday's cup tie will be an opportunity for them to express their talent. This is especially true for the young players who have a great chance to show the rugby management what they can do." 

Ionians have struggled somewhat in N3N this season, winning three and losing six of their ten fixtures. Home wins over Kendal (28-13), Darlington Mowden Park (33-10) & Preston Grasshoppers (17-12) were praiseworthy but perhaps their finest performance was to lose 19-20 at leaders Caldy through a home try in the last ten minutes of a hard fought game.

Ionians beat DMP for a second time in the 1st round of the EDF Trophy, this time by 26-7, at Brantingham Park. They chose a pretty much full strength squad on the same day that Fylde took, in effect, their 2nd team to Hereford where they won by 30-10 in their 1st round tie.It will be interesting, given the league game between the two clubs a week later, to see how each approaches the selection dilemma this Saturday.

Hull Ionians was formed in 1989 by the merger of Hull and East Riding (established in 1906) with Ionians (1926), a club named after the ancient all conquering tribe based in the Greek Islands. Leagues in rugby union had started two season earlier with Hull and East Riding playing in North One and Ionians in Yorkshire Three, six levels lower at that time. The new club took on the old Hull and East Riding fixture list and adopted the Elloughton ground as their home, the freehold property then owned by Ionians.

At this stage Hull and East Riding were down to a small first XV squad without ownership of their own ground or clubhouse. Ionians owned their ground and clubhouse had a thriving mini/junior section that was developing many excellent young players, but a first team that required more experience in order to retain them. The merger was therefore a perfect arrangement and proved to be just that immediately. The new 'Hull Ionians' had a brief flirtation with national rugby in 2002/3 but were relegated immediately. But two seasons later they were back in National Three (North), this time through the play-off route beating Kettering in April 2005. Ionians have survived reasonably comfortably in the last three seasons, finishing in 8th, 10th & 8th in the division.

The leading figure who has guided Ionians through this development period as head coach is the accomplished former Harlequins, London Scottish & Wakefield lock Mick Watson. He still makes the occasional 1st team appearance in the engine room of the scrummage but is generally happy to give way to his younger charges.

Watson has built a very stable, consistent squad over the past three seasons. He strengthened it during the summer by attracting centres Peter Murphy (ex-Morley) and Luke Thundercliffe (Bridlington), scrum-half Adam Thomas (Bridlington) and the return of former winger Nick Cooper from Australia.

Links between Ionians and Hull RFC have been strengthened with the recruitment of the Super League club's chief executive Jimmy Rule as a player at Brantingham Park. Rule, 28, a lock forward with previous experience at Newcastle Falcons, is the youngest chief executive in the top flight of RL and has returned to the club at which he started his playing career as a junior.

A strong pack of forwards include skipper and flanker Richard Wigham, his younger brother Mark, highly experienced lock Richard Hill (ex-Halifax), promising young props Arthur Thundercliffe and Adrian Longbone, and backrower Danny Hague. Another relative newcomer is knarled veteran prop Scott Wilson who has a cv including most of Yorkshire's leading clubs including Morley, Harrogate, Rotherham & Doncaster

Their backline include highly promising fly-half James Ferguson, fullback James Green, centre Travis Plumridge and wingers Tim Nixon & Joe Donkin. Goal kicking is the responsibility of Ferguson and, when he's fit, Nick Cooper.

The Ionians squad includes Fylde product Rob Whittam, at university in Hull, who has impressed of late in the 2nd team.

15 Lee Birch; 14 Joe Donkin, 13 Ryan Girking, 12 Peter Murphy, 11 Tim Nixon; 10 James Ferguson, 9 James Greene; 1 Chris Starling, 2 Carl Mortimer, 3 Adi Longbone, 4 Richard Hill, 5 James Rule, 6 Chris Cusack, 7 Mark Wigham, 8 Danny Hague.

Reps.: 16 Andy Gravil, 17 Tom Rice, 18 Mick Watson, 19 Rich Mackay, 20 Rob Whittam, 21 Adam Thomas.

-------------------------------------------------

Fylde make twelve changes in their provisional starting line-up from that which ran out to face DMP last Saturday. Three players have retained their places - Jordan Davies, Andrew Irving and Mark Stephenson. Vacant berths amongst the replacements may be filled later depending on injury checks and availability.

15 Mark Edwards; 14 Matt Hughes, 13 Jordan Davies, 12 David Wiseman, 11 Spencer Brennand; 10 Ryan Miemczyk, 9 James Smith; 1 Ted Scott, 2 Chris Tyms, 3 Andy Irving, 4 Grant Ferguson, 5 Matt Thompson, 6 Alan Holmes, 7 Mark Stephenson, 8 Dan Palmer.

Replacements: 16 Martin McAreavey, 17 Mark Darlington, 18 Dan Bowman, 19 Mark Norris.

Perhaps the most interesting selection is 17 year old scrum-half James Smith (photo right). The former Tarleton RFC Colt, Lancashire age grade representative and current King George V College (Southport) student joined Fylde this season and has impressed in recent 2nd team appearances. Stepping up to this level of rugby will be a big challenge for the youngster but Fylde's rugby managers have no doubt about his readiness. He has recently been selected for trials with the British Colleges squad.

                      Craig Aikman breaks clear in Fylde's 24-8 win at Brantingham Park in March.

The North/Midlands half of the EDF Trophy Round 2 draw is: