POST-MATCH INTERVIEW | Craig Lingard | Sheffield Eagles 18-22 Hunslet

24/05/2025

Sheffield Eagles Head Coach Craig Lingard shared his frustration following last night’s 18-22 home defeat to Hunslet, describing the performance as a “wasted opportunity”.

Reflecting on the game, Lingard acknowledged the commitment shown by the visitors but admitted that his own side simply didn’t do enough to earn the result.

“It was a really poor performance from us”, said Lingard. “I don’t want to take anything away from Hunslet, they played the game with a lot of desire and passion and simplified what they needed to do. They completed their sets, and we were way below where we needed to be.”

The Eagles found themselves on the back foot early and failed to establish any real momentum in the opening forty minutes. Lingard pointed to a lack of patience and a tendency to chase the game too quickly as key factors in the defeat.

“We struggled to get any sort of field position or momentum going in that first half,” he explained.

“We spoke before the game about playing in these types of matches, against sides around you, you’ve got to do the ugly stuff to do the pretty stuff. I felt we weren’t willing to do the ugly stuff for long enough. We’ve done that a fair few times this season, and there’s no quick fix to it. You’ve got to go all in and play the long game, and sometimes it’s not pretty.”

“We were our own worst enemy at times. Following that sin bin in the first half, people think that when you’re playing against twelve men, you need to go around them, but you don’t always need to. You just need to go direct, play a quick ruck and attack them through the middle.

“There was a play where we tried going wide on tackle two, we didn’t need to do that. That was an example of Hunslet’s third try where we tried to go wide, they intercepted and scored. We need to stay calm, stay composed, and take the opportunities when they come.”

Even as the Eagles mounted a fightback in the second half, Lingard was frustrated by his team’s inconsistency shown at times during the performance.

“It’s about having that awareness and being game-smart. Even when we were three scores behind, we got back into the game and onto the front foot, but I felt as if we weren’t willing enough to defend a set for long enough. We’d defend two or three plays well, then lose a ruck and give up field position.

“We knew coming into the game how big it was for us, and it’s such a wasted opportunity tonight. No disrespect to Hunslet, but we feel we should be winning our games here,” Lingard said.

“We’d had such a good week in training after the win in London, and the opportunity was there to build momentum. But right now, we’re playing snakes and ladders, we’re up one week and down the next.

“The players are down after the result, and you can see that on their faces,”

“We need to dust ourselves down and prepare for York. We can’t be feeling sorry for ourselves. The Championship throws up different results every week, and if you’re off your game, you’ll get beat.

“We’re not quite putting in the effort for the full eighty minutes yet, and we need to start doing that.”