02 September 2022

Featherstone Rovers overcame stubborn Eagles resistance under the Friday night lights at Olympic Legacy Park. The Eagles started brightly as Tom Holmes's  bobbling kickoff caught Featherstone off guard and Anthony Thackeray’s grubber kick was chased and touched down by Joel Farrell for the first points of the evening. Tom Holmes converted. Thackeray was at the heart of Sheffield’s next score, the half-back audaciously chipped the ball over the Rovers defence before kicking again to Johnson who finished off the move well. Holmes’ second conversion of the day made it 12-0 to the hosts. Rovers responded with two tries of their own in quick succession; First, Junior Moors played in Josh Hardcastle for a walk-in before Morgan Smith’s show-and-go fooled the Sheffield defence and the half-back dived in at the corner. It was the Eagles who had the final say in the first half; Mikey Wood barged over the Featherstone defence from close range to touch down. Holmes made it three-from-three from the tee.

The Championship promotion-chasers crucially scored twice in the first ten minutes of the second half to edge in front on the scoreboard. Ryley Jacks’ try was added to by Connor Jones who forced his way over from dummy half. A converted try from Smith put the visitors in the ascendancy before Jesse Sene-Lefao got on the end of a clever grubber kick to seal the victory for Featherstone. It was a fitting reward for an energetic second half show from Sene-Lefao.