Match Report | Sheffield Eagles 22-34 Swinton Lions
14/07/2024
Sheffield Eagles suffered their first defeat in five games following a 22-34 loss to Swinton Lions on Sunday afternoon.
Mark Aston made just the one change to his starting thirteen from last Friday’s win over Halifax Panthers as Izaac Farrell returned to the side in place of Anthony Thackeray in the halves.
Swinton scored the game’s first points as Izaac Farrell’s low kick through was intercepted by Gavin Rodden, who raced away the full length of the field to score under the posts, allowing Dan Abram an easy conversion from in front immediately after.
It didn’t take the Eagles long to respond as Bayley Liu and Cory Aston linked-up down the left channel to play Joel Farrell in for a try, before Aston’s conversion brought us level inside the opening ten minutes.
With the weather conditions proving difficult for both sides, it was Swinton who handled them the better as they scored twice more before the break to edge 6-18 ahead at the break.
Firstly, Rodden added a second try of the afternoon for himself after again spotting a gap from twenty metres out and got the ball under the sticks, before Ant Walker powered his way over from close-range to add a third Swinton try as the hooter sounded for half time.
Walker managed to bag himself his second try ten minutes into the second half as he recreated his first-half try with a score to the left of the sticks with another barge towards the line from close-range.
The Eagles responded with two scores of their own as Matty Dawson-Jones grounded the ball out wide following a great break by Joel Farrell, before Izaac Farrell marked his 50th Eagles appearance with a try of his own as he grounded his own kick to the right of the sticks.
Swinton scored twice more themselves late on through Jordan Gibson and Jake Spedding, despite a late Eagles consolation try from Titus Gwaze, as they wrapped up the win and secured a 22-34 win on the road in South Yorkshire.
Sheffield Eagles will now look to next week as they head on the road next Sunday, taking on Barrow Raiders at the Matt Johnson Prestige Stadium in Round 16 of the Betfred Championship (3pm KO).
Sheffield Eagles: Marsh, Jones-Bishop, Welham, Liu, Dawson-Jones, Aston, I.Farrell, Battye, Halafihi, Dickinson, Bower, J.Farrell, Gwaze.
Tries: J.Farrell (9’), Dawson-Jones (55’), I.Farrell (64’), Gwaze (78’)
Conversions: Aston (3/4)
Swinton Lions: Abram, Lepori, Spedding, Hatton, Williams, Hall, Gibson, Brown, Roby, Houghton, Rodden, Badrock, Cox.
Tries: Rodden (3’, 26’), Walker (40’. 50’), Gibson (73’), Spedding (80’)
Conversions: Abram (5/6)
Referee: S. Mikalauskas.
Attendance: 1,063
