Sheffield Eagles suffer derby day defeat to Doncaster
Sheffield Eagles weere undone by a strong Doncaster side at the weekend
Sheffield Eagles came up short in the weekend’s South Yorkshire derby, losing 24-18 and missing out on the two points due to a strong Doncaster performance.
Two changes were made to the squad that was victorious against Hunslet the week prior, with Lennie Ellis coming in to replace Alex Foster and Will Oakes swapping in for Ryan Millar.
The fixture began as a tense affair, with both sides completing their sets and pushing for a stronger position up the pitch. But it was the hosts who struck first when Muizz Mustapha danced through several Eagles’ defenders to cross over the line and open the scoring.
Several minutes of intensity followed, until the Eagles made their response when Jordan Abdull’s sailing kick found Conner Bower, who got himself over the line.
The Eagles followed up their last with another crucial try, when yet another Jordan Abdull kick was picked out of the air by Billy Walkley, and then offloaded to Kieran Gill, who got it down to push the visitors ahead.
But just moments later, Doncaster came back with a strong run from Luis Johnson, which brought the game back level going into halftime.
The second half began almost identically to the first, with the Dons opening scoring yet again, after Luis Johnson effortlessly pushed through the scrappy Eagles’ defence to get his second of the game.
However, the Eagles did not back down, and through an impressive one-man effort from Greg Eden, who managed to get on the end of his own grubber in front of the tryline, the score was back level once more.
But the Dons eventually proved too much for Sheffield to handle, and with an overpowering try from Connor Robinson, the hosts were back in front and able to hold the scoreline for the remainder of the fixture.
Sheffield Eagles’ next fixture will be a battle at home against Widnes Vikings next Thursday (7:30pm KO).
Doncaster RLFC: Gebbie, Briscoe, Lyne, Horne, Faraimo, Aston, Robinson, Knowles, Jones, Matagi, Sutcliffe, Johnson, Mustapha
Interchanges (all used): Jones, Hepi, Boas, Whitehead
18th Man: McConnell
Tries: Mustapha (4’), Johnson (36’, 44’), Robinson (54’)
Goals: Robinson 4/4
Sheffield Eagles: Eden, Brown, Oakes, Gill, Walkley, Ellis, Abdull, Matongo, Johnson, Reilly, Bower, Bussey, Griffin
Interchanges (all used): Fitzsimmons, Butterworth, Bowes, Peachey
18th Man: Millar
Tries: Bower (13’), Gill (29’), Eden (50’)
Goals: Bower 3/3