SHEFFIELD EAGLES 10 FEATHERSTONE ROVERS 30
DAN FOWLER, Steel City Stadium, Sunday

FEATHERSTONE continued their play-off push with a comfortable victory over Sheffield. 

It did come with consequences, however, with the impressive halfback duo Calum Turner and Ben Reynolds set for spells on the sidelines. 

Turner went off injured during the second half before Reynolds was dismissed for dissent with just two minutes left. 

Former Dewsbury playmaker Turner was lethal as Sheffield had no answers to his danger, whereas bulky forwards Clay Webb and King Vuniyayawa notched three tries between them.

The Eagles thought they had opened the scoring on seven minutes as Blake Broadbent sauntered his way through Featherstone’s defence, but referee Tara Jones blew for obstruction.

That was a wake-up call for the visitors, who did break the deadlock through Turner as Sheffield’s own claims for obstruction weren’t answered. Reynolds added the conversion, as he did for every Featherstone try.

A pattern of the Eagles’ now ten-game losing run has been conceding back-to-back tries and that’s exactly what they did here.

To their credit, it was a beautifully worked try from Rovers as support players were aplenty and Derrell Olpherts was the man who got the touchdown.

Sheffield did respond on 26 minutes with the eye-catching Harry Bowes at the forefront, the former Keighley man scooting from dummy-half before offloading, which allowed Danny Craven the time to dink in behind for Billy Walkley to score. Craven couldn’t convert. 

The hosts would have been very happy with going into the interval just eight points behind, given their current form. 

It was an untidy start to the second half and the turning point was Sheffield having a great attacking position but a poor grubber, allowing Featherstone seven tackles that they’d make the most of.

A Turner grubber was collected by Webb for his first of the day to make the margin 14 points.

Featherstone’s power through the middle started to take effect as Sheffield struggled to get a foothold in the contest. A Turner break almost yielded a try for Caleb Aekins but the fullback was tackled. The following play saw Vuniyayawa rattle forward and score underneath the sticks.

Turner had already done enough to claim the Man of the Match gong, but his game was brought to an early end through injury.

Webb was in at the double in the latter stages as Glover’s inside ball set Aekins away, the Aussie backrower patiently waiting in support before skipping away to the line.

Now, with the game all wrapped up but having to deal with being a halfback down, Reynolds kicked the ball away and received a yellow card, which was converted to a red card when he showed dissent to the referee.

With Turner and fellow halfback Ryan Hampshire sidelined, Reynolds will almost certainly have a spell off the pitch unless an appeal goes his way.

And there was still time for Sheffield to get to double figures. Ryan Millar received a loose pass but the winger somehow managed to scheme his way to four points. After the hooter had sounded, Craven converted.

GAMESTAR: Calum Turner was very impressive before injury struck.

GAMEBREAKER: Clay Webb’s first try put three scores between the sides.

MATCHFACTS
EAGLES
1 Matty Marsh
5 Matty Dawson-Jones
3 Kris Welham
33 Will Oakes
29 Billy Walkley
9 Corey Johnson
37 Danny Craven
38 Marcus Green
32 Harry Bowes
16 Blake Broadbent
11 Connor Bower
13 Titus Gwaze
30 Martyn Reilly
Subs (all used)
8 Eddie Battye
14 Reiss Butterworth
21 Ryan Millar
22 Masi Matongo

Tries: Walkley (26), Millar (79)
Goals: Craven 1/2

ROVERS
1 Caleb Aekins
2 Derrell Olpherts
29 James Glover
24 Bailey O’Connor
5 Gareth Gale
6 Ben Reynolds
22 Calum Turner
37 Nathan Wilde
14 Connor Jones
10 Jimmy Beckett
11 Brad Day
17 Clay Webb
13 Danny Addy
Subs (all used)
15 Sitaleki Akauola
16 King Vuniyayawa
19 Robson Stevens
21 Jordan Williams

Tries: Turner (13), Olpherts (15), Webb (55, 74), Vuniyayawa (63)
Goals: Reynolds 5/5
Dismissal: Reynolds (77) – dissent

SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-6, 0-12, 4-12; 4-18, 4-24, 4-30, 10-30

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Eagles: Harry Bowes; Rovers: Calum Turner

Penalty count: 4-6
Half-time: 4-12
Referee: Tara Jones
Attendance: 901