Report: Sheffield Eagles 56-6 Rochdale Hornets

Rochdale Hornets fell to their fifth straight defeat in all competitions as Sheffield Eagles ran out convincing 56-6 winners in Round 21 of the Betfred Championship.

The main team news from the Hornets camp was new arrival Harvey Braddish being handed a debut in the second row. 

But there was cause for concern in the lead-up to kick-off as winger Tj Boyd pulled out during the warm-up through injury.

The early pressure came from the visitors, who went close twice in the opening exchanges, first through Jamie Dallimore’s grubber which forced a goal-line drop-out, before Chris Barratt was held up by some tenacious Eagles defence.

The deadlock was broken midway through the first half, and it was the hosts who drew first blood.

Billy Walkley broke through the Hornets defence to run 70m before being brought down. Nevertheless, Connor Fitzsimmons was on hand to finish the job moments later.

Eight minutes later, an error from Ethan Wood following another drop-out was pounced upon by the home side, with the set resulting in Greg Eden slicing through the gap to score from close range.

Then before half-time, Sheffield went over again as a Jordan Abdull cutout pass sent Kieran Gill over down the left to make it 18-0, with the help of Kai Morgan’s conversion from out wide.

Craig Lingard’s side wasted no time in picking up where they had left off in the first half and were on the scoresheet again almost instantly, this time thanks to Morgan himself who exploited a gap to score below the posts.

A Rochdale comeback started to seem more and more improbable as just moments later, Joe Brown latched on to the end of a swift passing move from left to right to finish in the corner, before Morgan maintained his perfect record from the tee.

Gary Thornton’s side did get on the board 12 minutes into the second period thanks to Lewis Hatton, who crashed his way over the line from close range.

Moments later, however, the home side showed their class once more as Eden latched onto the end of an outstanding Jordan Abdull kick to grab his second of the game.

Fifteen minutes from time, Jack Bussey added his name to the ever-growing list of Eagles try scorers, before a ball over the top found Walkley who strolled in out wide.

As the contest became increasingly one-sided, Sheffield were in no mood to let up and Connor Bower was the latest to score as he forced his way home in the corner to hit the 50-point mark.

Two minutes from time, the ball was quickly moved around a tiring Rochdale defence and as gaps opened, Walkley scored his second try and his side’s 10th of the game, in what proved to be the last act of the contest.

After five successive defeats in all competitions, Gary Thornton’s side will be looking to return to winning ways next Saturday evening, during a tough trip to face Barrow Raiders.

Sheffield Eagles: Eden, Brown, Oakes, Gill, Walkley, Morgan, Abdull, Fitzsimmons, Johnson, Reilly, Hodson, Foster, Griffin. Bench: Bower, Bussey, Butterworth, Bowes.

Tries: Fitzsimmons, Eden (2), Gill, Morgan, Brown, Bussey, Walkley (2), Bower

Goals: Morgan (8)

Rochdale Hornets: Flanagan, Boyd, Ashton, Sa’u, Chippendale, Dallimore, Paga, Ioane, Waterworth, Barratt, Wood, Braddish, Syme. Bench: Whitmore, Hatton, Roby, Andrade.

Tries: Hatton

Goals: Flanagan

Post-match reaction

Photo credit: Jake Borrill