Eagles beaten by Centurions

09/02/2020

Sheffield Eagles were beaten 58-10 by an in-form Leigh Centurions in round two of the Betfred Championship.

After a narrow defeat to Halifax a week prior, the Eagles were behind the eight-ball in the opening quarter thanks to Adam Higson hat-trick.

They went into the break 26-0 down and were unable to launch a comeback with their two tries coming in the final 15 minutes of the contest.

Former Toronto winger Higson had a brace inside eight minutes, before completing his hat-trick shortly after.

Half-back Josh Woods found a gap to extend Leigh’s advantage, soon followed by Iain Thornley scoring the hosts’ fifth and final try of the first period.

The Eagles finished the half with a man extra as Centurions playmaker Ben Reynolds visited the sin-bin following a fight.

Sheffield pushed to break their deadlock before the break but Leigh’s defence held firm.

After the restart, Nick Glohe, Lewis Bienek, Matty Wildie and Alex Gerrard all touched down as Leigh brought up 50 points with 27-minutes to go.

Former Eagles dual-registration star Ben Hellewell scored for his new club on the hour before Sheffield got on the board.

Josh Guzdek applied the finishing touch to an Anthony Thackeray grubber but Izaac Farrell couldn’t convert.

The Eagles struck once more with four minutes remaining in the contest. Another Thackeray kick in-behind hit the post and was swept up by prop forward Lewis Taylor, who opened his account for the new season. Farrell added the extras from in front of the sticks.

The final try of the afternoon went the way of the Centurions, and their diminutive hooker Liam Hood.

By Dan Fowler, photo by Alex Coleman