Sheffield Eagles end Barrow’s perfect start with dominant 22–6 victory

The Cumbrian outfit had secured a win in every single fixture so far in their league campaign and made the trip to South Yorkshire with the confidence of being top of the table.

Sheffield Eagles also came into this game without a defeat so far in their league campaign, but having not played a fixture in the Championship for over 4 weeks, they needed a win to get back onto their strong season-opening form.

After two weeks without a fixture, Craig Lingard kept his Eagles' side unchanged from the squad that last played over a fortnight ago against Super League’s Warrington Wolves in the Challenge Cup 3rd round.

Barrow, however, brought Ryan Brown and Alex Bishop into the squad as interchanges, replacing Greg Richards and Jarrad Stack from their last victory against Whitehaven. They also brought in Ellis Archer as an 18th man, replacing Stevie Watson.

The Eagles opened up the scoring when a quick offload from Josh Hodson found the hands of captain Joel Farrell, who crashed over the tryline to put his side ahead in the 4th minute.

Seven uneventful minutes went by until Barrow’s Tee Ritson came close to the tryline in the left corner, but he lost the ball just over the line.

Once again, in the 15th minute, Barrow came within reach of a try, but some excellent Eagles defence managed to hold them off a while longer.

However, 4 minutes later, the Cumbrian side eventually got themselves on the scoreboard, with a picture-perfect pass from Ryan Johnston sending Joe Bullock crashing over the line to put his side ahead.

As the first half reached its final minutes, Kieran Gill burst his way through Barrow’s defence to push his side back in front.

Then a penalty conversion from Jordan Lilley sealed a 10-6 score at half-time for the Eagles.

Twelve minutes into the second half, Billy Walkley launched himself into a full-pitch sprint, weaving his way from one side of the field to the other, before providing an offload to Matty Marsh, who managed to score his first try of the 2026 campaign.

And then in the 70th minute, to see the game off, Billy Walkley once again sprinted through the Barrow defence and grounded the ball to secure the Eagles a 22-6 victory.

After winning both of their first 2 games so far in this campaign, Sheffield Eagles will be feeling confident and in-form going into this Sunday's Betfred Championship fixture away against Hunslet at South Leeds Stadium (3pm KO).

Sheffield Eagles: Marsh, Brown, Gill, Hodson, Walkley, Morgan, Lilley, Matongo, Bowes, Reilly, Bower, Farrell, Griffin

Interchanges: Fitzsimmons, Johnson, Peachey, Foster

18th man: Broadbent

Tries: Farrell (4’), Gill (34’), Marsh (52’), Walkley (70’)

Goals: Lilley (3/5)

Barrow Raiders: Cresswell, Bullman, Teare, Broadbent, Ritson, Walker, Johnston, Bullock, Wood, Walker, Robson, Costello, King

Interchanges: Doolan, Emslie, Brown, Bishop

18th man: Archer

Tries: Bullock (19’)

Goals: Walker (1/1)

Referee: R. Cox