Women exit League Cup to Stanningley

03/07/2023

An injury ravaged Sheffield Eagles Women team welcomed Stanningley to the OLP for the first time in what was expected to be a tough semi-final in the League Cup competition, and which turned out to be the clichéd game of two halves..

The first fifteen minutes were characterised by the Eagles repeatedly putting themselves under pressure with unforced errors. Only some stout tackling and last ditch goal line defence prevented the opposition crossing for a try. However the dam broke eventually after repeated pressure inflicted down the right onto the Eagles left, enabling prop Wainwright-Morley to side-step a way over 10m in from touch. Converted by Prior for 0-6.

The next ten minutes was a seesaw affair, although with the opposition having the better of territory most of the time with both sides guilty of unforced errors. However in the 25th minute Stanningley’s Westerlaken took the ball as first receiver mid right on their own 30m line, spotted that the Eagles A defenders were too far apart, swerved into the space behind 2nd marker, stepped the full back and raced 70m to score under the posts. Again Prior converted for 0-12.

A few minutes later the Eagles found themselves able to exert some pressure on the opposition try line only for indifferent handling after an injury stoppage squandered a clear opportunity on the left. After that the half played out with neither side able to dominate.

Half-time: Sheffield Eagles Women 0 – 12 Stanningley

Whatever was in the Eagles half time drinks and team talk it certainly made a difference. From the off, the Eagles showed much better go forward and composure in possession. After some sustained pressure on the opposition in their 20m zone, the ball was moved left for Thomas to jink and twist out of the tackle to score in the 50th minute 15m in from touch, but unfortunately failing to convert her own try. Score 4-10.

In the 55th minute Eagles new signing Butler rampaged through from 45m out but with the line at her mercy and in trying to wrong foot the cover defender arriving on her left, she didn’t see the covering winger arriving on her right who wrapped the ball up leading to a ball held-up tackle in the in-goal area. But it wasn’t the last tackle. By the time the attack had gone back 10m for the play-the-ball, the broken defence had begun to re-organise and then youthful inexperience intervened, and a cast iron chance was squandered.

60 minutes in, the Eagles put in a splendid set of six up field with combinations of drives, offloads and passes to force a goal line drop out. However after catching that drop out just 15m out, the Eagles promptly bombed a chance at an open line to the left with a handling error.

Stanningley then returned serve but only as far as a kick to the Eagles 20m, who then marched back up field with a kick into the opposition’s 10m. A comedy of errors then followed with the Stanningley knocking-on back to the Eagles, only for no acting half back to show up at the first tackle 5m out from the try line – a chance lost with an open line out left and right, and a penalty to the opposition 5m out from their own line.

Then to compound the pain Stanningley’s second play found their very speedy and smart centre Westerlaken, who swerved around the Eagles first marker, spotted that the A defender had jumped the line a bit, ran straight through the now wider gap between the A and B defenders, then did another swerve this time around the referee leaving the Eagles full back impeded on the other side, ultimately racing 80m to score in the 67th minute under the posts. Converted by Prior for 4-18.

Yet the Eagles didn’t give up. From the restart they were gifted the ball on the second play and pressured the try line but firstly to no avail. However they then restricted the opposition’s next set to just over half way, responding with more pressure on the opposition line. This time the shift to the left paid dividends. An offload, a pass and a tackle 2m out. Then with a scoot from the play-the-ball Butler was over in the 74th minute 7m in from touch. Converted by Thomas with a fortuitous bounce off the crossbar for 10-18. Game on, perhaps.

However it was not to be. Although the Eagles kept the territorial advantage for most of the remainder of the game, the handling curse came to visit both sides once more, thwarting further scores.

Full-time: Sheffield Eagles Women 10 – 18 Stanningley

Tries:- Thomas, Butler Goals: Thomas (1 conversion)

Despite conceding three tries the Eagles kept themselves in the game by continuing with the same tenacious defence as shown last week. However it was a team missing nearly all of its experienced spine players coupled with errors in possession that proved the real killer, preventing conversion of a host of opportunities into tries.

Sponsors’ player of the match went to the Eagles Tori Thomas who worked her socks off as usual deputising valiantly in different half back positions in each half. The coaches’ player award went to Phoebe Bramley for yet another huge contribution too of tackling, distribution and evasive runs, whilst the captain’s vote went to forward Jo Clark.

By Barry Wood