Report

Sheffield Eagles were condemned to a 42-16 defeat against Halifax at the MBi Shay. A hat-trick from James Saltonstall as well as significant contributions from new signing Adam O’Brien and Scott Murrell helped the West Yorkshire club on their way to a big victory. O’Brien scored the opening try of the contest after three minutes before Scott Wheeldon was sent to the sin-bin for tripping. Half-back partners Murrell and Ben Johnston both crossed the whitewash in the minutes following Wheeldon’s departure but the Sheffield forward soon returned to register his side’s first try of the contest. At 18-6 down, the Eagles will have been quietly confident going into the break but they were met by a try-scoring barrage from the hosts, who took the game away from the steel city side.

Four tries without reply saw Fax go 38-6 up by the hour mark. Saltonstall bagged a brace while Luke Ambler and Steve Tyrer also got on the scoresheet. Dayne Weston was the second Sheffield player to be sent to the sin-bin as he took part in a scuffle. In his absence, the hosts scored two tries to the Eagles’ one, which came courtesy of Ben Blackmore. Duane Straugheir and Saltonstall exchanged tries in the final five minutes for Sheffield and Halifax respectively.