EAGLES LEARN PLAY-OFF FATE WITH BULLS DEFEAT

24/09/2023

EAGLES LEARN PLAY FATE WITH BULLS DEFEAT

Sheffield Eagles learned their play-off fate on Sunday evening, as they suffered a late defeat to Bradford Bulls at the Olympic Legacy Park. 

The 16-17 result in favour of the visitors means the four-placed Eagles will face fifth-placed London Broncos at home in an Elimination play-off fixture next Sunday (October 1). 

Mark Aston welcomed Kris Welham, Brandon Douglas and Joel Farrell back to his matchday squad following a win at Widnes last weekend.

The Eagles had a bright start in front of the Viaplay TV cameras, but the Bulls who registered the first points of the contest. 

A well-executed short side play from Bradford allowed Joe Arundel to go in for a try after 22 minutes; Lilley’s conversion attempt was put wide.

Sheffield responded well to going behind and hit back through Quentin Laulu-Togaga'e on 31 minutes.

A move out to the left side created an overload for the Eagles, the full-back chose to back himself on this occasion, dummying to evade the Bradford defence to score. Cory Aston converted the score to edge the Eagles in front for the first and last time.

Five minutes later, Bradford had a try ruled out for a forward pass. The visitors didn’t have to wait much longer to restore their lead.

Just as the half looked to have petered out, the Eagles hit the self-destruct button. With one too many passes close to their line Sheffield were punished - Liam Tindall the Bradford try-scorer. Gaskell couldn’t convert the try.

HALF-TIME: SHEFFIELD EAGLES 6-8 BRADFORD BULLS

Bradford came out of the blocks well in the second half and earned a goal-line drop-out quickly after the restart.

In the following set, Jordan Lilley extended their lead after he collected an impressive offload from Kevin Appo. Lilley converted for 6-14.

This close contest never seemed like it was ever going to be anything different; Sheffield soon hit back through Ben Jones-Bishop, who added four more points onto the Sheffield total.

A Bradford penalty goal put the Bulls six points in front with around 20 minutes remaining.

Sheffield’s final try of the contest came through their other winger, Matty Dawson-Jones. 

The former Bradford man finished a well-worked, rapid move to the left edge. Jack Hansen’s conversion attempt fell short in the windy conditions.

An offside call on Bradford allowed Sheffield a chance to level the scores two minutes from time; Jack Hansen obliged for his first points of the game.

Bradford won the ball back from the resulting kick off, and as the clock ticked down in the last minute of the game, half-back Lilley added a one-pointer to claim victory and 3rd spot in the final Championship standings.

FULL-TIME: SHEFFIELD EAGLES 16-17 BRADFORD BULLS