Sheffield Eagles taste first league defeat of the season

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Sheffield Eagles tasted defeat for the first time in the Betfred Championship this season, following a 10-36 defeat at home to Wakefield Trinity.

Wakefield opened the scoring less than two minutes into the game, as referee Ben Thaler awarded the visitors a scrum early on following a forward pass in the Eagles first set.

Josh Griffin latched onto the pass out of the scrum to battle his way over the try-line. Max Jowitt ensured his kicking game was strong, starting a coversion rate of 100 per cent success rate for the evening.

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Sheffield responded twelve minutes later as Matty Dawson-Jones was in good space on the left-hand side, he received the ball following a scrum and squeezed his way through three Wakefield men in the corner. Cory Aston made no mistake with his touchline conversion to bring the game level.

Eagles centre James Glover making a tackle against WakefieldEagles centre James Glover making a tackle against Wakefield
Eagles centre James Glover making a tackle against Wakefield

Thr hosts had a chance to go ahead just before the half-hour mark as Hansen kicked through on the last tackle. Jones-Bishop looked to be only inches away from tapping the ball down in the corner. But Wakefield hit back instantly as Luke Gale spotted a gap in the Sheffield line to crash his way over.

Wakefield went back-to-back just shy of the forty minute mark. Firstly, Griffin broke through the middle of the Sheffield line, before passing the ball inside to Jowitt to force his way over the try-line. Before Jay Pitts then added the final try of the half, barging his way over from close-range giving the visitors a three-score lead going into the break.

Wakefield re-opened the scoring in the second-half through Ky Rodwell, as he received the ball from Tom Doyle to crash over under the sticks.

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The visitors looked to break on half-way but Derrell Olpherts couldn’t keep hold off the ball as he knocked on in the Sheffield 40. As Wakefield earned the ball back in their own 30, Mason Lino then knocked on and received the only sin-bin off the game after throwing the ball at Sene-Lefao’s head in retaliation. The Eagles couldn’t capitalise following the penalty, which saw a turn over of play.

Wakefield further developed their lead less than ten minutes form time, as Lachlan Walmsley found space out on the left-hand side to place the ball over the try-line.

The visitors then attempted to let the ball go out on the full from kick-off, however it bounces off a visiting player and we get the ball back on the 20m line. The Eagles had the final say in the game as the ball found its way out to the right hand side and Welham battled his way through the Wakefield line to go over in the corner. Aston couldn’t place the ball between the sticks this time.

The Eagles are back in action on Sunday when they travel up to North Yorkshire to take on York RLFC Knights in the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup Semi Final.

  • Sheffield Eagles: Hansen, Jones-Bishop, Welham, Glover, Dawson-Jones, Aston, Thackeray, Battye, Halafihi, Dickinson, Foster, J.Farrell, Gwaze
  • Interchanges: Clark, Murphy, Roberts, Sene-Lefao
  • 18th Man: Wood
  • Tries: Dawson-Jones (14’), Welham (74’)
  • Conversions: Aston (1/2)
  • Wakefield Trinity: Jowitt, Olpherts, Thornley, Pratt, Walmsley, Gale, Lino, Bowden, Hood, Atoni, Ashurst, Griffin, Pitts
  • Interchanges: Kay, Uele, Rodwell, Doyle
  • 18th Man: Croft
  • Tries: Griffin (2’), Gale (27’), Jowitt (38’), Pitts (40’), Rodwell (49’) Walmsley (71’)
  • Conversions: Jowitt (6/6)
  • Referee: B Thaler
  • Attendance: 1,998