Sheffield Eagles well beaten despite second half improvement in West Yorkshire

The Eagles had a strong start to March as they won three games on the bounce in the Bettered Championship and Challenge Cup, but came crashing back down to earth last weekend when they were knocked out of the cup after a 58-12 defeat to Super League outfit, Hull FC.

Today, on their return to league action, they were unable to bounce back and return to winning ways against Featherstone - and were 26-4 down at the halftime interval after falling 16-0 behind within the opening 22 minutes of the game before Ben Jones-Bishop managed to reduce the arrears slightly.

Blake Broadbent, Martyn Reilly and Connor Bower all grabbed tries in the second half of the tie as Mark Aston’s side tried to force their way back into the game, but it wasn’t to be as the hosts picked up 32 points of their own to seal victory on home soil.

The defeat leaves the Eagles in seventh place after six games, while their opponents climbed to the top of the table with 13 points.

Next up for the Eagles is a return to the Millennium Stadium on Saturday when they go into 1895 Cup Playoff action against Whitehaven, with the winner going on to face Leigh Centurions in the semi-finals of the competition.

The final will be played at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on May 28th – and the Eagles will be desperate to to make it into the tournament’s showpiece game and get a shot at winning it for the second time.