Match Report | Sheffield Eagles 22-6 Barrow Raiders

21/02/2026

By Spencer Arnold

Sheffield Eagles made it two wins from two in the Betfred Championship this afternoon with a 22-6 victory against Barrow Raiders at the Steel City Stadium.

Barrow came to Sheffield with a strong record in the league so far after managing 3 wins from their opening three fixtures, which saw them head into the afternoon's fixture top of the league table.

After another two week break, The Eagles returned to action as Craig Lingard named an unchanged squad from their last outing in the Challenge Cup in Warrington Wolves. 

The hosts started strong as captain Joel Farrell opened the scoring after only four minutes. A quick offload in the tackle by Josh Hodson on the last tackle saw the Eagles captain collect the ball, as he crashed over to the left of the sticks for the game's opening score.

Seven minutes went by uneventfully until Barrow came close to the line in the left corner, but they came up with a knock-on in the process of scoring.

Barrow came knocking again in the 15th minute, but they was this time held up by some strong Eagles defence. 

However, four minutes later, Paul Crarey's side got on the scoreboard as a pinpointed pass from Ryan Johnston allowed Joe Bullock to storm through the line and push the Cumbrian side ahead after a succesful Brad Walker conversion.

Then, as the first half began to close out, Kieran Gill provided a bursting run through Barrow’s tryline defence out wide and managed to launch the Eagles in front once more as the clock approached half time.

A penalty conversion from Jordan Lilley shortly after brought the half to a close, with the score at 10-6. 

Twelve minutes into the second half, an insane, defence-weaving, full-pitch sprint from Billy Walkley, and an offload to Matty Marsh gave the Eagles another try to further the gap between the two teams as the full back opened his try scoring account for the season. 

With ten minutes to go, Walkley once again dusted off his running boots and ran through the tired Barrow defence, pushing the Eagles to a 22-6 victory.

After making it two wins from two, Sheffield will hope to make that three games unbeaten in the Betfred Championship next Sunday when they head to the South Leeds Stadium to face Hunslet (3pm KO). 

Sheffield Eagles: Marsh, Brown, Gill, Hodson, Walkley, Morgan, Lilley, Matongo, Bowes, Reilly, Bower, Farrell, Griffin

Interchanges: Fitzsimmons, Johnson, Peachey, Foster

Tries: Farrell (4’), Gill (34’), Marsh (52’), Walkley (70’)

Goals: Lilley (3/5)   

18th man: Broadbent 

Barrow Raiders: Cresswell, Bullman, Teare, Broadbent, Ritson, Walker, Johnston, Bullock, Wood, Walker, Robson, Costello, King

Interchanges: Doolan, Emslie, Brown, Bishop

18th man: Archer

Tries: Bullock (19’)

Goals: Walker (1/1)

Referee: R. Cox

Attendance: 535