Eagles survive second half Thunderstorm

28/05/2023

Never easy, is it?

Sheffield Eagles beat Newcastle Thunder 32-38 at LNER Community Stadium in the 2023 Summer Bash.

The Eagles led 6-24 at the break and were four scores up after 55 minutes but Newcastle fought back in the final quarter.

The Toon got back to within six points in the 79th minute but couldn’t put together a final foray in their last set.

Bayley Liu, Ben Jones-Bishop, Kris Welham and Brandon Douglas all got on the scoresheet in the first half while Jack Hansen kicked four goals from as many attempts. Newcastle’s solitary first half score came courtesy of Gideon Boafo, with Nikau Williams converting.

Both teams finished the first half with 12 men each as Izaac Farrell and Jay Chapelphwo took a seat in the sin-bin after a scuffle.

Half-time - Newcastle Thunder 6-24 Sheffield Eagles

In the second period, Connor Bailey cut the deficit for Thunder before Sheffield looked to have the game in the bag courtesy of Liu and Jones-Bishop notching their second tries of the contest.

Quick-fire scores from Dane Windrow and Denive Balmforth kept Thunder’s faint hopes alive before Izaac’s penalty put three scores between the teams.

Izaac visited the sin-bin for a second time with six minutes to go and what followed were two more Thunder tries, both unconverted, in the dying embers.

Full-time - Newcastle Thunder 32-38 Sheffield Eagles

A big let-off for Sheffield, who will be aiming for a more consistent performance against Whitehaven next weekend.

By Dan Fowler, photo by Alex Coleman