Eagles Wheelchair defeated against North Wales Crusaders
16/03/2022
Sheffield Eagles Wheelchair Rugby League team faced a baptism of fire as they made their debut in Championship North against a spirited and well organised North Wales Crusaders “A” team, bolstered with players with Super League experience.
The Crusaders racked up a 52-0 first half lead with Dan Clarke on impressive form, giving the fledgling Eagles a huge mountain to climb in the second half. But with a refocus at half time, the Eagles regrouped, keeping the home side’s second half score down to just 22 points, camping out in the Crusaders half for most of the final quarter and claiming a consolation try as Chris Haynes collected Shaun Orton’s kick through to score the Eagles first competitive try, with Vicky Brooks on target with the conversion to make the final score 74-6.
“Our aim in the short term is to be competitive” said Head Coach, Greg Brown. “It took us the first half appreicate what being competitive in this league means, but the team gained a vast amount of experience today and that will benefit us as the season progresses and despite the heavy score line the players are extremely positive about the experience. We’ll take the lessons from today and put them into practice and improve for our next game against Bradford Bulls next weekend.”
Despite not getting on the score sheet, Will Brooks was a stand out performer for the Eagles, making several breaks downfield only to be caught by covering defence, which earned him the Player Of The Match award from both sides.
North Wales Crusaders: 74
Amy Parker, Mark Hughes, John Doyle, Mark Drakeford, Ricki Davies. Interchanges: Daniel Clarke, Gary Taylor, Leon Roberts
Tries: John Doyle 3, Ricki Davies 2, Daniel Clarke 5, Leon Roberts 3
Goals: Ricki Davies 8/9, Leon Roberts 3/4
Sheffield Eagles: 6
Lottie Davis-Browne, Stacey Roulson, Shaun Orton, Stephen Cambell, Vicky Brooks. Interchanges: Chris Haynes, Will Brooks
Tries: Chris Haynes 1
Goals: Vicky Brooks 1/1
Match Officials: Richard Turner & Matt Ball
