Betfred Championship R26: Sheffield vs Featherstone Preview

02/09/2022

Sheffield Eagles’ penultimate game of the 2022 Chamoionship campaign comes at the Olympic Legacy Park as they play host to Featherstone Rovers.

The Eagles are aiming for a seventh-placed finish in the league, above the chasing pack of Widnes Vikings and Bradford Bulls, while Featherstone have their sights set on promotion.

Last Time Out

Sheffield go into this one after a defeat to York last Friday. They lost 20-12 and were 16-4 down at the break with Ross Oakes scoring the only try of the first half for the visitors.

Matty Marsh, Bailey Antrobus and Liam Harris got York on the board. Sheffield ended the half with 12 men as Tom Holmes was sent to the sin-bin.

Vila Halafihi got the Eagles back into the contest with the opening score of the second half before a flurry of yellow cards - two for Sheffield and one for York - followed.

Anthony Thackeray was first sent to the sin-bin before Bayley Liu and Marsh had a coming-together which led to their sin-binnings too.

Despite only having 11 men, Sheffield did get on the scoresheet during that time. Ryan Johnson continued his rich vein of form with another four-pointer to add to his tally.

Getting to within four points of the Knights was as good as it got for Sheffield, who went back to South Yorkshire with a narrow loss to their name - confirmed by James Glover’s last minute effort.

Featherstone beat Workington Town 64-18 at the Millennium Stadium.

Connor Jones was the star of the show for the Rovers with five tries to his name, while Morgan Smith also crossed for a brace.

Other Rovers tries came courtesy of Craig Hall, Tom Lineham, Gadwin Springer and Ryley Jacks.

Jamie Doran, Joseph Kirkup and Marcus O’Brien were the try-scorers for Workington.

Key Battle - Joey Leilua | Ross Oakes

In the reverse at the Millennium Stadium, Rovers’ powerhouse centre Joey Leilua went up against Ryan Johnson in what will have been an eye-opening 80 minutes for the young Eagles outside back.

This time around, if the game against York was anything to go by, it’ll be Ross Oakes tasked with the challenge of Leilua as Johnson was named - and scored - on the wing against the Knights.

Whoever is on Leilua, a former NRL Grand Finalist, will have their hands full but it’s certainly a challenge to relish under the Friday Night Lights of the Olympic Legacy Park.

Tickets

Tickets are available on the gate at the Olympic Legacy Park tonight and are priced as follows: Adults: £20 (standing), £22 (seated), Concessions: £15 (standing), £17 (seated), Juniors: £5 (standing), £7 (seated) 

Golden Gamble and programmes will also be available and can be bought by card payment from the pop-up shop near to the entry gate.

If you want to take advantage of the Friend for a Fiver promotion for next week’s game against Dewsbury, please pick up a form from the entry gate or pop-up shop.

You can also request a form to be emailed by getting in touch with natasha.burt@sheffieldeagles.com