If building momentum in sport actually means anything, then both Bradford and Wakefield are undoubtedly limping into their biggest game in years on Saturday. The final place in Super League for 2016 will be decided in the ‘Million Pound Game’ by those two sides, but both have suffered painful defeats in games they realistically should have won. While Wakefield having home advantage in that game was expected, the team slipping up at the final hurdle before it was certainly not on the agenda.
Whether they, like Bradford during their heavy defeat to Halifax, already had one eye on Saturday’s play-off is unclear, but on the basis of this performance, Wakefield’s hopes of staying in Super League do not look good.
“It’s a worry, we came here to win,” said the Wakefield coach, Brian Smith. “At times we were comprehensively outplayed. I wouldn’t think that [performance] would get anywhere near winning next week. We’ve just got to get ourselves ready to play our best game.”
Yet as bad as Wakefield were, it is only right to give huge credit to Sheffield. It has been a lean period for the club since their famous victory against Wigan in the 1998 Challenge Cup final and, since reforming the following year, they have spent the past 16 years out of Super League.
They will be in the Championship again next year after only picking up two wins in the Qualifiers, but with a £325,000 leap in central funding from the RFL after their seventh-placed finish, the Eagles will go full-time for the first time since they were at the peak of the sport – and it is indisputable that the sport needs more full-time teams in the lower leagues. The one real positive of the new structure in rugby league means Championship sides have genuine potential to grow and build for the future; with the club in talks to move back to the city in 2016 after spending this year playing in Doncaster, Sheffield could be a genuine threat again in years to come.
“This has been the most successful season for the new Sheffield Eagles as far as I’m concerned,” said their coach, Mark Aston. “It’s been a tough year with ups and downs but they’ve signed off with a massive amount of pride and passion.”
Aston drew a parallel between that famous win against Wigan 17 years ago and this one – “Wigan would have had to shoot us dead in 1998 to score points, and it was the same today, they’d have had to kill us to get through us” – and after conceding only 10 points in the first half, they managed to keep their Super League opponents scoreless in the second to seal victory.
Sheffield overcame a tense start from both teams the better, and the impressive Quentin Laulu-Togagae laid on tries for both Scott Turner and Cory Aston, the head coach’s son, to make it 10-0.
Wakefield put up a fight of sorts towards the end of the first half with tries from Danny Kirmond and Ben Kavanagh, but Menzie Yere’s try, again from good work by Laulu-Togagae, gave Sheffield a healthy cushion at the interval.
Sheffield’s second-half performance was built on impressive defence, and as hard as Wakefield tried, they could not break down an Eagles side intent on ending with a win. The only points in that second half were from a Pat Walker penalty and a try from Laulu-Togagae, as Sheffield ensured a nervy week for Wakefield fans before their biggest game in a decade.
Sheffield Laulu-Togagae; Turner, Yere, Smeaton, Worrincy; Brambani, Aston; Battye, Carlile, Stringer, Knowles, Straugheir, Walker.
Interchange Taulapapa, Tonks, Davies, Davey.
Tries Turner, Aston, Yere, Laulu-Togagae. Goals Walker 3, Brambani.
Wakefield Jowitt; Lyne, Tupou, Arundel, Johnstone; Miller, Godinet; Anderson, Sio, Scruton, Simon, Washbrook, Annakin.
Interchange Lauitiiti, Kirmond, Kavanagh, Yates.
Tries Kirmond, Kavanagh. Goal Arundel.
Referee J Cobb. Attendance 1,712.
