Sheffield Eagles: Aston toasts ‘champagne’ rugby after fourth straight win

Sheffield Eagles director of rugby Mark Aston described some of his side’s second-half play as ‘champagne rugby’ after coming from 10 points down to convincingly beat Batley Bulldogs.
Mark AstonMark Aston
Mark Aston

For the second home game in a row, the Eagles showed resilience to come from behind after a disappointing opening quarter, to run home comfortable winners to maintain their 100 per cent start to the campaign.

During the second stanza at the OLP, a Ben Blackmore brace, plus tries from Joel Farrell, Ollie Davies, Blake Broadbent and Paddy Burns took the game away from the visitors, who had threatened to break the Eagles’ winning run following a confident start.

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But following a James Glover try on 30 minutes, the Eagles didn’t look back and Aston beamed at full-time after his side turned on the style with some eye catching play after the interval.

“I was really pleased with the manner of some of the tries,” Aston told The Star.

“In the second-half with ball in hand we completed 19 out of 23 sets, and some of the tries we scored, well it was champagne rugby. Blake Broadbent gets a reward with his first touch for extra efforts following a brilliant kick from Ben Blackmore.

“We are priding ourselves with the extra efforts we are putting in, and I thought that Blake's try epitomised that. It was the same with Paddy Burns at the end. The game was won but he chased a kick-off right until the end and got his reward. They are the little things that really please me.

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“I am delighted with them, I knew it would be tough and it was. I am pleased because again, we won a game a different way. We came from behind to win comfortably, it was impressive.”

After missing out on playing against Widnes due the financial plight of the Vikings, there was a question mark over whether Aston’s side would lose momentum.

The Bulldogs certainly caused the Eagles problems during the opening 30 minutes, with a host of former Batley stars receiving a hot reception at times from their former colleagues.

Aston was disappointed with the start, stating he felt his side did not benefit from missing out against Widnes.

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He added: “I think the momentum we got, well the weekend we had off didn't particularly help us. As much as we got some more work on the training, we probably needed the momentum to carry on playing and keeping these good habits.”