Betfred Championship R10: Leigh vs Sheffield Preview

28/04/2022

With two trips to the Leigh Sports Village in as many weeks, Sheffield Eagles will be anticipating a tough fortnight against Leigh Centurions; tomorrow in the Betfred Championship and the 1895 Cup semi-final next weekend. 

Leigh, alongside Featherstone Rovers, are front-runners for promotion to Super League but this Eagles side have shown quality of their own in recent weeks. 

Sneaking their way into the last playoff spot as it stands, Mark Aston’s men will be aiming for another positive performance against a full-time side after they beat Newcastle Thunder in round nine. 

Leigh come into this contest after a blistering performance against London Broncos, demolishing Jermaine Coleman’s side 64-0. 

Last Time Out

The Centurions didn’t really have to get out of second gear against the capital club, leading 36-0 at the break and keeping their defence tight for the remainder to not leak any points. 

Aaron Smith and Caleb Aekins both got on the scoresheet in the early going, followed by Nene Macdonald and Tom Nisbet.

Joe Mellor and Kai O’Donnell scored Leigh’s fifth and sixth tries of the afternoon, with Krisnan Inu going six from six from the tee before being sin-binned on the stroke of half-time. 

Smith completed his brace with the first try of the second period, prior to four-pointers for Ben Reynolds and an Inu hat-trick. 

Sheffield concluded their on the road ‘home’ games with a 34-20 victory over Newcastle at Featherstone’s Millennium Stadium. 

Ben Jones-Bishop continued his stellar form with a hat-trick, two of those efforts coming in a near-perfect first half for the Eagles. 

Sheffield led 30-4 at the interval but it was Thunder who opened the scoring through Alex Sutton. 

The hosts were down on the scoreboard and also down in numbers on the field as Anthony Thackeray was sin-binned. 

Despite this, the Eagles got on the board through Vila Halafihi before the scrum-half was re-introduced. 

Jones-Bishop extended the lead following marvellous work from Kris Welham in the lead-up, to send his wingman away. 

Newcastle had their turn to go a man down as Lewis Peachey was shown yellow for a high shot on 29 minutes. 

Unlike their counterparts, Sheffield capitalised on the numerical advantage. Jones-Bishop, Joel Farrell and Thackeray all touched down within a ten-minute period that would put the end result beyond doubt. 

Thunder certainly chanced their arm in the second half though, outscoring the Eagles 4-16. The referee’s yellow card made another appearance as Sheffield’s Evan Hodgson and Newcastle’s Josh Eaves were both sin-binned.

The visitors added to their lone first half effort with scores courtesy of Gideon Boafo, Peachey and Sutton. This brought Newcastle back to within ten points of their opponents with as many minutes remaining. 

However, Jones-Bishop’s hat-trick try - which came from a stunning Tom Holmes pass - sealed the win for the South Yorkshire side. 

Key Battle - Sam Stone | Joel Farrell

The key battle for tomorrow’s match will come in the forward pack and we’re going to look specifically in the back-row as Sam Stone and Joel Farrell go head-to-head. 

Stone has been one of Leigh’s most consistent performers so far this season. The Australian, signed in the off-season from Gold Coast Titans, has shown he is worth the investment made by Derek Beaumont.

Running smart lines and proving hard to stop, it’s not a surprise that Stone - who also has NRL experience with Newcastle Knights - has hit the ground running in the second tier. 

Every team needs someone who can get under the skin of the opposition and since 2019, the Eagles have been able to turn to Joel Farrell to do just that. 

But Farrell certainly brings more to the table than a bit of skullduggery. The Jamaican international has been a force to be reckoned with in the pack, with a fairly solid try-scoring record for the Eagles - four tries in nine so far this season, 26 in 58 overall. 

If Sheffield are to lay a glove on Leigh in the first of two matches against them in as many weeks, Mark Aston will be looking to the likes of Farrell to come out firing. 

Tickets

Tickets for this match, as well as next weekend’s 1895 Cup semi-final against the Centurions at the same venue - can be purchased from venuetoolbox.com/leighsportsvillage

By Dan Fowler, graphic by Alex Coleman