Match Report | Sheffield Eagles 78-24 Sheffield Eagles
29/07/2024
Sheffield Eagles returned to winning ways in the Betfred Championship on Sunday afternoon with a 78-24 victory over Whitehaven at Olympic Legacy Park.
The Eagles took only three minutes to open the scoring in South Yorkshire. After some quick build up from Marsh and Glover, the ball was worked to the left-hand side into an open space for Matty Dawson-Jones to crash his way over. Aston’s touchline kick was to perfection, adding the first of thirteen successive kicks for the afternoon.
Marsh was next to cross in the 7th minute as he dropped a shoulder in a centralised position to work his way over under the sticks to score.
Dawson-Jones got his second of the game just before the fifteen-minute mark After the referee awarded a penalty for a high shot on Joel Farrell, the Eagles worked their way left to Dawson-Jones who dived over in the corner for a second.
The visitors responded through Jake Maizen immediately after when the Whitehaven full-back spotted a gap from deep and raced away 80m to score.
But from there, it was the home side who took full control in the first half as we scored four more times before the break. Marsh added a second try for himself of the afternoon, whilst Dawson-Jones crossed to complete his hat-trick. Kris Welham and Alex Foster also got their names onto the scoresheet.
The home side started the second half as they left off in the first and it took only three minutes to score again as Ben Jones-Bishop crossed in the right corner after pouncing on a loose-ball in the in-goal area.
Ten minutes into the second half, Marsh made a break from deep for the line and managed to get over to complete his hat-trick, before the visitors responded through Owen McCarron to take the score to 54-12.
Jesse Sene-Lefao scored his first try of the season on the hour mark as he made a dart for the line from close-range, before Foster added a second for himself of the afternoon three minutes later after making a break from the line from halfway.
With thirteen minutes to go, Marsh scored himself a fourth try of the afternoon with another close-range finish towards the left corner, before Titus Gwaze latched onto a short ball from Aston to score underneath the sticks.
Whitehaven scored twice more themselves late on to edge their way back further into the contest, but the Eagles were able to hold onto the win as we ran out as 78-24 winners.
The Eagles return to Olympic Legacy Park next Sunday (04/08), highlighting ‘Yorkshire Day’ as we take on fellow Yorkshire side Doncaster RLFC (3pm kick off).
Sheffield Eagles: Marsh, Jones-Bishop, Welham, Glover, Dawson-Jones, Aston, Hansen, Battye, Halafihi, Dickinson, Foster, J.Farrell, Hodgson
Interchanges: Gwaze, Broadbent, Liu, Sene-Lefao
18th Man: Bower
Tries: Dawson-Jones (3’, 14’ 29’), Marsh (7’ 21’ 49’, 67’), Welham (25’), Foster (33’, 63’), Jones-Bishop (43’), Sene-Lefao (59’), Gwaze (71’)
Goals: Aston (13/13)
Whitehaven RLFC: Maizen, Tchamambe, Evans, Teare, Romeo, Carter, Hanneghan, Castle, Newton, Ainley, McCarron, Baxter, King
Interchanges: Corkill, Ellis, High, Worthington
18th Man: N/A
Attendance: 833
Referee: A. Sweet
MOTM: Matty Marsh
