Eagles lose to Rovers in Championship thriller
07/05/2023
William Shakespeare would have done well to have created a play as dramatic as this Betfred Championship contest between Featherstone Rovers and Sheffield Eagles.
The Rovers came out on top 28-20 but that isn’t the half of it, with plenty of expansive play on show from both sides and about the same amount of cards as I get at Christmas time.
Referee Tom Grant may not be on the Eagles’ Christmas card list as it goes, with the visitors down to ten men at one point while Featherstone had 12.
Matty Dawson-Jones notched tries in each half for the Eagles while Bayley Liu and Ben Jones-Bishop both got on the scoresheet.
Of the Eagles’ defeats in the Championship, all have followed a certain pattern - that being the opponents going quite far ahead before the Steel City men kick into gear.
Featherstone managed to get ten points in front inside 15 minutes courtesy of Josh Hardcastle and Luke Briscoe. Riley Dean knocked over one conversion from two attempts.
Sheffield sprung into life on 20 minutes with a well-worked move, QLT sending Liu through a gap to stroll over. Cory Aston converted.
As the half-hour mark approached, Jesse Sene-Lefao and Aston combined to send Dawson-Jones over for the equalising score. Aston’s conversion attempt hit the post.
A fierce first 40 minutes and it wasn’t going to slow down at all..
Half-time - Featherstone Rovers 10-10 Sheffield Eagles
The Eagles hit the front for the first, and only, time of the match when Aston’s cut-out ball found Dawson-Jones who completed his brace. The half-back converted for 10-16.
On the hour mark, Jack Bussey powered his way over to score by the sticks. Now, for the cards. Vila Halafihi was first into the bin following a bit of a skirmish after the try was scored. Dean converted.
The bad blood started as Featherstone protested about an Aston tackle on Thomas Lacans whilst the Frenchman struck a ball into the air. Nothing doing from the referee on that occasion but just a minute later, three more cards were brandished.
Aston was penalised for what looked to be a flop, Dean took exception. Both shown yellow. Sene-Lefao had a word with the referee after the yellows were shown, he got one of his own.
Now it’s Featherstone’s 12 men vs Sheffield’s 10 and the Millennium Stadium had come alive.
Featherstone couldn’t capitalise on their numerical advantage in the next set. With almost every man and his dog to reside in this part of Wakefield on the overlap, Gadwin Springer could only knock-on.
However, that wouldn’t be the end of the matter. With ten minutes to go, the Rovers found themselves in great field position and that overlap did come in handy with Briscoe scoring his second of the day. Bussey converted, in the absence of Dean.
Thought the Eagles were dead and buried? Wrong. Ball back from kickoff and then a penalty for offside gave Mark Aston’s men a chance. They took said chance with QLT’s pass on the money for Jones-Bishop to score.
Aston Jnr was off the field for his misdemeanour, Joel Farrell took the kicking duty and struck one sweet but just wide.
The players in the sin-bin returned to make it 13 vs 13 with four minutes to go. Sheffield threw the kitchen sink but to no avail. Featherstone wrapped up the win through Caleb Aekins and a Dean conversion.
Full-time - Featherstone Rovers 28-20 Sheffield Eagles
What an afternoon of Betfred Championship rugby. Although the Eagles weren’t on the right side of the result, they can take pride in going toe-to-toe with the table-toppers.
The best thing about it all? We get more Eagles next week as we make the journey to Keighley. Join us!
By Dan Fowler, photo by Alex Coleman
