Sheffield Eagles defeated by league leading London Broncos
Despite a toughly fought effort, the Eagles came up short against top of the league London Broncos, in a tense fixture which ended with a score of 10-72.
In anticipation of today’s Betfred Championship clash, head coach Craig Lingard made several notable changes to the Eagles squad that won last week against Halifax Panthers. George Griffin returned to the squad, slotting in at loose forward and moving Harry Bowes up into the prop position. Lennie Ellis also made his return to the interchange bench.
The fixture began with a close effort for the Eagles, as Will Oakes came in near the tryline but was held up before scoring.
However, just moments after this Eagles almost-chance, Luke Smith opened the scoring for the visitors.
Another opportunity for the Eagles came not long later, with Kieran Gill getting his own run at the tryline, but a knock-on in the process of scoring ruled out the chance of securing some points.
Almost immediately after this, the Broncos got their second, with a break and then a try from Elliot Wallis.
Two more tries across the next ten minutes followed for the visitors, with Brandon Webster-Mansfield scoring both of them, and the Broncos' lead was extended massively.
However, just ten minutes before the end of the first half, the Eagles made their response, with a diving try from Ryan Millar on his 150th appearance for the Sheffield side.
Another two tries from the Broncos saw the first half out, with a second for Elliot Wallis and a first for Morea Morea.
The second half continued much of what was seen in the first, with London opening the scoring early on with a try from Finley Glare, and then another for Morea Morea almost instantly after.
Brandon Webster-Mansfield then secured his hat-trick for the visitors, followed by Luke Smith getting his second try of the fixture too.
A Connor O’Bierne try gave the Broncos a lead of 58 points, and despite another close encounter with the tryline for the Eagles’ Kieran Gill, that lead was extended further when London’s Niel Tchamambe got himself over the line for a try.
Finley Glare then scored the Broncos’ last try of the afternoon in the 65th minute, with that also being his second of the day.
The Eagles began to raise the intensity for these remaining fifteen minutes, with a close effort by Billy Walkley, who, just five minutes from the end of the fixture, managed to get his try and continue his current strong scoring streak within the league.
The Eagles’ next fixture will be a clash in Cumbria against Barrow Raiders, to be played in three weeks on Saturday, the 13th of June (6pm KO).
Sheffield Eagles: Brown, Millar, Oakes, Gill, Walkley, Morgan, Abdull, Matongo, Bowes, Reilly, Bower, Hodson, Griffin
Interchanges (all used): Broadbent, Ellis, Peachey, Foster
18th Man: Green
London Broncos: Morea, Tindall, Wallis, Webster-Mansfield, Tchamambe, Voro, Meadows, Campbell-Gillard, Davis, Adebiyi, Lovell, Smith, Havili
Interchanges (all used): Glare, Bitungane, Hursey-Hord, O’Bierne
18th Man: Davidson