Despite the persistent rain of recent days and a great amount of standing water on peripheral areas of the Woodlands pitch, a hard morning's work by the ground staff and volunteers led to the game going ahead following a 10am pitch inspection.

In fact, the pitch was remarkably good and looked in fine condition during the game.

This opening day win was a real curate's egg performance by Fylde. Some of their play was penetrative and they launched sweeping attacks utilising the speed of their wingers to great effect.

But other periods were error strewn, rushed and over-anxious as they tried to force the pace against a brave and hard working Huddersfield side.

Despite outscoring the visitors by five tries to two, Fylde found it difficult to get sustained possession in the 2nd half as Huddersfield dug in and battled all the way in what was the biggest game in their long history on their debut in National League rugby.

Despite the good pitch, the conditions were tricky with a wet ball and an increasingly strong wind blowing down the pitch towards the Clubhouse.

The initial exchanges were pretty even, Huddersfield's fly-half, the impressive Chris Johnson, had a couple of long range penalties which fell short.

But Fylde got within striking range of the Huddersfield line on 12 minutes and Steve Nutt kicked a straightforward penalty goal when a Huddersfield player drifted offside.

Within a minute the visitors were level as Johnson opened his side's scoring with a similar penalty.

Fylde started to spread the ball wide and this paid off on 16 minutes when Nick Royle sped down the right touchline in a typical 40 metre burst.

He chipped the ball past the last defender but was tackled when he tried to regather.

Fellow winger Oliver Brennand was up in support, but the bounce of the loose ball defeated him.

The third of Fylde's flyers, scrum-half Craig Aikman, was on hand to kick the ball through over the goal line and easily win the race to touch it down near the posts. Steve Nutt converted easily and Fylde had a 10-3 lead.

Characteristic of Huddersfield's play throughout, they battled back into Fylde's half and pressurised inside the home 22m area.

A neat dropped goal by Chris Johnson reduced the deficit to four points.

The home side then took control of the second quarter. The home scrummage was dominant and started to push Huddersfield back at a rate of knots.

They earned a scrum 10m out and simply pushed their opponents over their line and number 8 Sam Beaumont got the touchdown. Nutt missed the conversion but his side had a 15-6 lead.

But Fylde suffered a setback on 34 minutes when impressive fullback Mike Waywell retired fron the fray with a foot injury. Mark Edwards replaced him.

Playmaking fly-half Nutt was having a mixed day with his kicking and general play but on 35 minutes he showed the brilliance which marks him out as such a dangerous opponent.

As Fylde moved the ball down the left hand blindside, he ghosted past his markers and fed the ball inside to the supporting Aikman.

The scrum-half straightened the line and created space for Oliver Brennand to race into the corner for an excellently worked try.

Nutt's conversion drifted wide but Fylde had established what looked to be a conclusive lead of 20-6. Surely now the points would flow for the home side as they began to outclass their game but limited opponents.

But, as against Tynedale in the pre-season game the previous Saturday, Fylde lost concentration in the few minutes before half-time.

On 40 minutes referee Guy Steele-Bodger signalled a Huddersfield knock-on then for some reason waved play on as a Fylde player did the same.

Huddersfield fly-half Johnson regathered the ball and raced 25m through a static defence to touch down.

He converted his own try and suddenly Huddersfield were right back in the contest at only 13-20 down as the half-time whistle blew.

The 2nd half began in the same fashion with Fylde maintaining the dominance they had exercised in the previous 20 minutes.

On 51 minutes Steve Nutt kicked a penalty goal from in front of the posts to extend his side's lead. Three minutes later came the highlight of the match. Fylde worked the ball to Nick Royle on the half-way line.

He raced down the touchline leaving his opposite number grabbing at thin air. He then arched back inside and powered his way through a couple of tackles, almost stumbled before thrillingly sprinting clear and touching down under the posts for a bonus point try.

It was a typically brilliant effort from a player who has been training full-time with Sale Sharks during the summer.

Nutt converted for a 30-13 lead and what the home supporters believed would be the start of a points glut in the final quarter.

It didn't turn out like this at all. Huddersfield battled back down field and began to establish excellent continuity of possession.

In fact, they showed a better technique than the home forwards in retaining and re-cycling the ball at the tackle breakdown and in rucks.

The young 2nd row pairing of Ben Harris and James Bodworth had performed well at the line-outs and Bodworth was replaced by Gavin Rhodes on 47 minutes.

Fylde's defences were now being severely tested and they paid the price when prop Sam Simpson was sinbinned for interference.

This de-stabilised the home pack and it became a struggle for them to exercise any control.

On 64 minutes Huddersfield scored a rather curious try. As the visitors moved the ball right 30m out from the Fylde line, winger Oli Brennand was accidentally tripped by a supporting Huddersfield runner.

This gave visiting winger Adam Sutcliffe sufficient space to race into the right corner for a try that in terms of their collective pressure Huddersfield deserved. Johnson's attempted conversion went wide and the score stood at 30-18 to Fylde.

The home side put in an improved final 12 minutes when they were back to 15 players following the end of the sinbinning.

By this time prop Adam Lewis, hooker Chris Tyms and flanker Dan Palmer had replaced Sam Simpson, Alan Holmes and Nick King. They established a position within their opponent's 22m line on 76 minutes and the visitors defence was in danger of being overrun.

As they were penalised for offside, the ever alert scrum-half Aikman took a quick tap penalty and raced through for a smartly taken try.

Nutt's attempted conversion drifted wide and the game meandered to a conclusion and a clear Fylde win by 35-18.

Despite a game performance by the visitors, Fylde never looked in real danger at any stage of the match.

They were the more creative team but had to battle very hard against a gritty Yorkshire pack.

The Fylde backrow of Dan Bowman, Dave Wilks and Sam Beaumont was effective and hard working. The visitors deserve lots of praise as their players have no experience of national league rugby.

Their Director of Rugby Mark Sowerby said afterwards "I was very proud of my players. This is a young team and most of them have come through our youth ranks.

"They'll have to step up their game if we are to compete at this level - there's quite a difference from North One."

Fylde's Director of Rugby Mark Nelson said: "Ours was a very mixed performance. There were moments of brilliance and others of naivity. We'll have to up the intensity and accuracy of our play if we're to get a result at Leicester Lions next week.

But a bonus point win is a good start to a very long season."