Sheffield Eagles earn emphatic victory against Barrow

Mark Aston named three changes from the side which secured the win at Halifax Panthers last weekend, as Bailey Liu, Jack Hansen and Alex Foster returned to the match-day squad in place of Kris Welham, Anthony Thackeray and Aaron Murphy.

The Eagles thought they had the first say inside ten minutes, as Hansen broke through the Barrow line. He looked to play the ball inside to Cory Aston, however the Eagles lost possession just short of thirty metres from the try-line.

Barrow then capitalised on a Sheffield mistake, breaking up the field. Ellis Gillam thought he had the ball down as he forced his way over the line, but the referee deemed a knock-on.

The Eagles then thought they had scored through Eddie Battye, who barged his way under the sticks, but the referee again claimed a knock on in the build-up.

It was the Eagles who got the first points of the game on the twenty-minute mark, following quick passing through the Eagles line. Battye found a gap thirty metres out and charged his way to the try-line to put the Eagles six points ahead with the aid of Aston’s conversion, the first of seven successful kicks for the afternoon.

The Eagles went back-to-back inside three minutes as James Glover broke from halfway, he played the ball inside to Hansen, who was alone in the middle of the pitch to crash his way over under the sticks.

Joel Farrell added his name to the try scorers list as the Eagles increased their lead further shortly after as he received the ball just to the left of the sticks and he powered his way through a number of Barrow men to score.

Sheffield wasn’t done there, as they went over once again, earning a fourth try in only ten first half minutes. Glover worked his way down the left-hand side and placed the ball over the line.

The Eagles continued to put on a show in the second half, as Ben Jones-Bishop intercepted a Barrow pass out wide to run the full length of the field only a matter of minutes after the restart to score his 50th try for the club.

Sheffield just kept going and scored again only a matter of minutes later. Hansen broke through once again after spotting a gap, before he played the ball inside to the supporting Kyle Wood, who was next to add his name onto the scoresheet.

54 minutes in saw Sheffield work the ball from left to right on the last tackle, as Hansen spotted Liu and Jones-Bishop in plenty of space. It was Liu who latched onto the ball following a grubber kick through, and the centre darted his way under the sticks to add another four points onto the scoreboard.

It was a double-offload which gave Glover his second try of the game! First, Jones-Bishop used his speed to get the Eagles over halfway, before offloading to Hansen. As he was bombarded with Barrow men, he offloaded to Glover who charged forward and scored just left of the sticks.

The Eagles defence stayed strong as Barrow looked for their first try of the game. Gillam was held up on the fourth tackle, before Hansen ensured a turnover of play inside the Eagles twenty seconds later.

Sheffield finished the game in style as Tyler Dickinson forced his way over the try-line from close range. Hansen took over with the boot, adding a conversion, before slotting over a late penalty to secure an emphatic 54-0 win for the Eagles.

Sheffield Eagles are back on home turf next Friday evening, in a top-of-the-table clash against Wakefield Trinity at Olympic Legacy Park in Round 7 of the Betfred Championship (7:30pm KO).

TEAMS

Sheffield Eagles: Marsh, Jones-Bishop, Lui, Glover, Dawson-Jones, Aston, Hansen, Battye, Halafihi, Dickinson, Foster, J.Farrell, Gwaze

Interchanges: Hodgson, Clark, Wood, Sene-Lefao

18th Man: Murphy

Tries: Battye (21’), Hansen (23’), J.Farrell (27’), Glover (30’, 62’), Jones-Bishop (42’), Wood (45’), Liu (54’), Dickinson (76')

Conversions: Aston (7/8), Hansen (2/2)

Barrow Raiders: Cresswell, Bulman, Carter, Broadbent, Shaw, Walker, Johnston, Walker, Wood, Gillam, Greenwood, Beardsworth, Wilkinson

Interchanges: Forber, Bedward, Nunes Silva, Burke

18th Man: McMillan

Referee: K. Moore

Attendance: 1,103