Match Report | Salford Red Devils 26-6 Sheffield Eagles Women Red
20/08/2024
The Sheffield Eagles Women Red team played Salford Red Devil’s women’s side in this scheduled round 16 away fixture at the Salford Community Stadium, having defeated their opponents at home 40-20 three months earlier.
Unfortunately the Eagles on this occasion were beset by first team absences through injuries, work commitments and holiday arrangements, leaving the side bereft of an experienced acting half back and fielding only one established half back. This was to have its consequences as events unfolded,
From the kick-off it was obvious that this was going to be a robust affair as Salford sought revenge for their defeat in May, and the Eagles responding in kind. However the side effect was to produce a game beset by injury stoppages which made for very disjointed fare for the spectator.
After the early exchanges of sets, the Eagles were the first to score. With sustained pressure on the right and with the help of some six-again calls, the Eagles almost got over twice, but then a third injury stoppage halted things for a minute under the posts. Play restarted with the ball shipped into the hands of Parker stood back from the posts, who promptly swerved across through the off-guard defence to go over 15m left of the posts in the 10th minute. Thomas converted for an early Eagles lead of 0-6 and that was as good as it got for the Eagles for the rest of the match.
The strong cross wind caught hold of the kick restart, which elicited a handling error from a normally safe pair of hands, the ball bouncing away into touch 10m out from the Eagles line. Salford wasted no time in exerting intense pressure. Play 3 had the ball into the hands of the very tall forward Parton-Sotomayor who sucked in three defenders, which opened a hole on the right. The height advantage played its part with an offload to Salford’s half-back Davis, who simply nipped through to score 5m to the right of the posts in the 13th minute. Evans converted to level the scores at 6-6.
The sides continued to batter each other but without success until the 21st minute when Salford applied pressure on their right, forcing the Eagle to defend their line on their left edge. After repelling a couple of scoring attempts, Salford switched the ball back inside to speedy half-back Davis, but unfortunately the Eagles defence had over-chased back inside leaving a gaping hole on the right. Davis spotted this and swiftly cut a path back to the right to slice through and pop the ball down 10m in from the flag. The conversion hit the post, score 10-6.
More legal brutality followed and so more injuries. Thomas deputising as the Eagles acting half-back was the first, forced off in the 24th minute although was able to return for the second half. That impacted the Eagles spine even more. A couple of other stoppages followed with the half not drawing to a close until the 48th elapsed minute.
Half-time: Salford Red Devils 10 – 6 Sheffield Eagles Women
Things did not improve for the Eagles. What seemed a dominant tackle, by three Eagles players on their left side 20m out from their own line, had failed to lock the ball up. An arm came out and tossed the ball back. It was quickly picked up by a supporting Salford player who motored off through the hole behind the tackle. The fullback was drawn and the ball flipped inside to Davis, who raced off to dramatically ground the ball behind the posts in the 47th minute. Simpson converted to extend the Salford lead to 16-6.
In the 52nd minute half-back Parker had to limp off not to return, leaving the Eagles spine ever more depleted. Then in the 65th minute things got worse still. Again Salford attacked on their right and got to the Eagles 20m line 20m in from touch. Three in the tackle again, and the ball offloaded again. One draw and pass left took out another defender and the ball into the hands of Salford fullback Simpson. Racing diagonally to the left, Simpson swerved one defender then fended off the centre and wing heading for the left corner. A commendable desperate tackle came in from opposing fullback Dex, but it was not enough to prevent the ball being grounded next to the flag. There was a suspicion of a foot in touch before the grounding, but the touch judge ruled otherwise and it would have taken a 5 minute dose of that infuriating video refereeing medicine to decide anyway. Who needs it! The conversion was missed, score 20-16.
In the 72nd minute Salford sealed the deal. Again Davis was the deliverer of more Eagles misery. Taking the ball on a running line centre-field 45m out from the Eagles line, Davis tracked diagonally right, outpacing and fending off defenders. Right centre Wray came up in support along the touchline to take the pass 10m out, fended off another then tracked along the in-goal to within 5m of the posts. Evans converted for 26-6 and game over.
The two sides continued to take lumps out of each other and ensure a couple more injury stoppages, the second half taking 49 elapsed minutes.
Full-time: Salford Red Devils 26 – 6 Sheffield Eagles Women
Eagles Tries: Parker
Goals: Thomas (1/1)
Salford Tries: Davis(3), Simpson, Grace
Goals: Evans(2/4), Simpson(1/1)
In conclusion, a hard bruising encounter. Unfortunately the lack of an established spine took its toll on the Eagles, resulting in the ball almost never getting near the edges. Several overload opportunities did present themselves, but the wrong players in the wrong places meant the ball was never spread, and forwards being forwards - they just love trying to knock down the front door.
The coaches’ player of the match went to prop T’leesha Frederick-Maynard for an all-out performance and big minutes and much personal sacrifice of the body to the cause. Similarly substitute prop Saunders deserved the captain’s award for producing another monster performance with many outstanding carries. Just a shame the lack of a fully functioning spine meant the opportunities they created couldn’t be translated into tries.
