Rugby round-up: Sheffield slip up as Tigers hammer Birkenhead

Sheffield RUFC travelled east to face promotion challengers Hull - but their first game after two consecutive postponements ended in a 21-16 defeat. The score, coupled with results elsewhere, saw Sheffield slip to fifth in the table - although they hold a game in hand on teams higher in the league. The Abbeydale-based side will be hoping to turn their fortunes around this weekend, when they host mid-table Billingham on Saturday.

Elsewhere in the Steel City, the Sheffield Tigers hosted third-from-bottom Birkenhead Park and recorded a demolishing 48-0 victory. The impressive result was the Tiger’s fourth clean sheet of the season so far, and was also a day of milestones for two Tigers players.

Liam Wallace made his 100th first team appearance whilst Tom Outram scored his 1000th point for the Tigers.

Tigers’ Thiu Barnard said: “I am very happy, we expected a result and we got it. The things we worked on improved massively this weekend and made the difference on the scoreboard.

“It was not a spectacular performance and obviously there are still things we need to improve on to be even better.

“However, to be honest, our defence was absolutely superb, we scored most of our tries from turnover balls so it just shows how good our defence is.”

The Tigers play their next game against Rossendale. Barnard said: “It will be tough, they have not lost at home yet and we lost there last year so it is a very hard place to go to.

“We are looking forward to it, we have a couple of things to work on this week but if we just stick to what we plan to do we will be alright.

“We are 14 points clear at the top of the table, but all we have to do is lose a couple of games and we are back in a promotion fight. We need to take it one game at a time, look after ourselves and keep winning.

“The game last year against Rossendale was very close, I hope it will not be this year but I am expecting a tough game.”