Match Report | Bradford Bulls 28-10 Sheffield Eagles
19/05/2024
Sheffield Eagles suffered a 28-10 defeat against Bradford Bulls at Bartercard Odsal Stadium this afternoon.
After qualifying for the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup Final, it was a return to league action for Mark Aston’s side who were looking to get back on track following defeat to Wakefield Trinity two weeks ago.
Aston made a couple of changes to his line-up from the one who secured victory last time out against York RLFC Knights, as Kyle Wood came in to start at hooker, whilst there was a first start of the season in the second row for Jesse Sene-Lefao. Vila Halafihi and Joel Farrell were the two players who missed out.
There were also returns on the bench for Jack Hansen and Evan Hodgson, who missed out last weekend’s win at York.
It was the hosts who scored first after 12 minutes as Tyran Ott dropped the shoulder before playing in Zak Fulton to the right of the sticks for an opening score.
But the lead only lasted three minutes as straight from the restart, which forced a mistake from Bradford, the ball found itself played to the left where Matty Dawson-Jones got the ball down in the corner.
Cory Aston added a touchline conversion to bring the scores level at 6-6.
The home side re-took the lead in the 23rd minute as a Jordan Lilley cross-field kick was collected in the air by Jayden Okunbor, who managed to get over to score, before Bradford scored only minutes later in the left corner through Aidan McGowan after capitalising on a Sheffield mistake in defence.
And the hosts scored a fourth try of the afternoon to put Bradford further ahead as Fulton crossed for a second score of the afternoon to the right of the sticks, which was converted by Lilley to take Bradford into a 22-6 lead at the break.
There was nothing between the two sides in the opening ten minutes of the second half, but Lilley added a 51st minute penalty to put the hosts three scores ahead of the Eagles to get the scoreboard back underway.
Both sides were reduced to twelve men inside a ten-minute period as both James Glover and John Davies were shown yellow cards respectively, but neither side could break down the defence during that period.
Bradford further developed their lead following the re-introduction of Glover and Davies, as Kieran Gill picked up a loose ball on half-way and raced away and score in the corner to stretch the lead to 26-6.
The Eagles were awarded a scrum just over half-way, late into the game. The ball was played left to Aston, who kicked through the Bradford defence, as Glover chased, he offloaded to Hansen just short of the try-line and he forced his way over to score. Aston could not convert his effort from the touchline, leaving the game at 28-10.
The Eagles are back in action on Friday evening when we welcome Dewsbury Rams to Olympic Legacy Park in Round 9 of the Betfred Championship (7:30pm).
Bradford Bulls: Holmes, Tindall, Okunbor, Gill, McGowan, Ott, Lilley, Lawrence, Souter, Rogers, Davies, Fulton, Doro
Interchanges: Appo, Bateman, Peposhi, Scurr
18th Man: Balback
Tries: Fulton (12’, 32’), Okunbor (23’), McGowan (27’), Gill (70’)
Conversions: Lilley (4/6)
Sheffield Eagles: Marsh, Jones-Bishop, Welham, Glover, Dawson-Jones, Aston, Thackeray, Battye, Wood, Dickinson, Foster, Sene-Lefao, Gwaze
Interchanges: Clark, Hodgson, Roberts, Hansen
18th Man: Bower
Tries: Dawson-Jones (15’), Hansen (74’)
Conversions: Aston (1/2)
Referee: J.Vella
Attendance: 2,234
