Sheffield Eagles v Wigan Warriors - Carnegie Challenge Cup Round 4.
Saturday 17th April 2010. Kick Off 4:00pm at Bramall Lane (Sheffield United FC).

Sheffield in fairness put in a very spirited performance. They had simple tactics of pinning Wigan back with kicks into touch that forced scrums and slowed the pace of the game. Particularly in the first twenty minutes, it worked well and frustrated us.

I did think referee Ian Smith allowed them to get away with an awful lot at the play the ball though. No doubt opposition fans will laugh at that and see a bit of justice considering the criticism of Wigan's defensive tactics this season but Smith, in my view, gave Sheffield the 70/30 decisions, never mind the 50/50 calls!

Coach Michael Maguire switched Sean O'Loughlin to stand off and Sam Tomkins to scrum half in the absences of both Thomas Leuluai and Paul Deacon.  Lee Mossop played at Loose Forward with Liam Farrell making his second appearance on the subs bench.

Things look ominous for Sheffield after just 57 seconds when a bomb went up from O'Loughlin and, in his trademark fashion, Pat Richards beat the defender in the air to score. He couldn't convert off the left touchline though - 4-0 Wigan.

Sheffield responded well with a restart that almost found touch. Darrell Goulding just about kept it in play but it put Wigan on the back foot. They levelled the score when Papua New Guinea international Menzie Yere took advantage of some poor defence from Joel Tomkins. He may lead our CherryandWhite.co.uk player of the season race at the moment but he had a shocker today. A conversion from prop Mitchell Stringer made it 6-4 to Sheffield.

Soon after, more poor defence on our right allowed ex Warrington winger Richie Barnett to score. Stringer couldn't convert this time but now Sheffield led 10-4.

Wigan still looked the more dominant side but lacked patience. Calm play was needed but they seemed to be looking to score from every play the ball. This saw passes go down and quite often during the afternoon they got penalised for "crossing".

They did  hit back on 18 minutes though with Sam Tomkins sending Martin Gleeson through a big hole to score under the posts. Easy conversion levelling the scores at 10 all.

Eventually Wigan began to get on top, highlighted by Stuart Fielden making a clean break to almost score, but they were still rushing things too much. George Carmont should have scored but knocked on.

He made up for that on 31 minutes when he scored in the corner. Good hands created an overlap down the left and with several tackles bumped off, Carmont finished the move. Richards though failed to convert leaving the score at 14-10 to Wigan.

The home side desperately needed the half time break but we got two quick fire tries to give us a 16 point half time lead that flattered us.

No sooner has my friend Kath said "Feka has done nowt has he?", he went on a typical barge over under the sticks, swatting bodies away in the process. It came about five seconds after she said it! Easy conversion made it 20-10.

Two minutes later Phil Bailey sent Sean O'Loughlin over from close range and with the conversion it made the half time score Sheffield 10 Wigan 26.

Second Half initially saw a much better display from Wigan. They looked far more patient and Sheffield couldn't handle our battering forwards. Liam Farrell looked to have scored just two minutes in but referee Smith disallowed it for obstruction in back play. Looked harsh to me and it was a shame for Farrell. It was a good try. Have to say he had a great performance. My man of the match by a mile!

It took 8 minutes for the second half deadlock to finally break. Sam Tomkins had been probing all afternoon and he deserved to score what proved to be the first of a hatrick of tries. His footwork created it for him and he repeated the effort two minutes later to take the score forward to 38-10.

Then Andy Coley was sent in from twenty metres out and that took the score to 44-10. Next Darrell Goulding looked to have scored a good try in the right corner but referee Smith bemusingly called a knock on. The ball did come loose but it looked to me that he had already touched the whitewash?

From that decision Sheffield scored from a rare attack. It came from a break by Barnett down the left wing from half way. Cameron Phelps came across to stop him but got nowhere near in truth. Barnett still has pace to burn despite recently serving a two year drugs ban. Stringer converted to make it 44-16.

To be honest I was expecting Wigan to push on and get up towards 60 points but the reality was that they switched off completely. Sam Tomkins did claim his hatrick with an easy effort but three tries conceded in the last twelve minutes will not please coach Maguire.

The first effort came from Barnett again who broke down the left. Darrell Goulding had gone off injured so Gleeson was out there defending, with Bailey at centre, and he made mugs of them both.

More shocking defence, this time up the middle, allowed Alex Rowe to finish a break under the posts, then Brendon Lindsay scored in the last minute. All three efforts were converted to make the final score Sheffield 34 Wigan 50.

So in the end Sheffield scored six tries, which will leave them delighted considering no Super League side has managed to score more than four tries in a match against us this season. But I remain adamant that this was just a bad mental display rather than a sign of things to come. I'll be very surprised if we aren't focused in defence when Harlequins visit on Friday.

Reaction to the Action

Coach Michael Maguire: "We were always going to play our first team, we knew it would be a tough game and we made it a tough game by the way we performed, but Sheffield played really well. Our boys weren't playing to the standards we've set. We definitely went away from what we have been practising and I'll make sure we jump back on to that quickly or teams can come back and hurt you. I knew if we play the way we can the opportunities will come but we kept putting ourselves into tough situations. We didn't create the opportunities. But the big fellows started carrying the ball and playing direct but we still went away from the areas where we have been effective. The biggest point is the score against which is very different from what we've had in recent games and we need to look at that."

Sheffield coach Mark Aston: "That was what rugby league is about. The atmosphere was great, this stadium (Bramall Lane) and some of the players can deliver Super League to this club. We were outstanding, at half-time there was really nothing between us - what I'm really proud of is that we are the first team to score a try in the first 10 minutes against Wigan this season. It was a massive effort from the guys and we got stronger and stopped them scoring in the last 15 or 20 minutes when we scored some great tries. Richie Barnett got three and is getting back to what he can do, Menzie Yere was great. I have always believed that we can be competitive against any team and thus should give us the kick-start we need in the league. The lads are a credit to me and the club. We were the underdogs in 1998 and we stood up and the lads today did the club proud."

Team Sheets

Score Sheet

Scoring and Incident Pattern

Video Highlights

Top 5 Wigan Players as voted on our Message Board

Man of the Match: Sam Tomkins
2nd: Liam Farrell 3rd: Iafeta Paleaaesina 4th: Sean O'Loughlin 5th: Stuart Fielden

Referee

Ian Smith (Oldham)

Penalties Conceded

Sheffield 9 Wigan 6

Match Attendance

3,950 (was first incorrectly announced 2,950 - Over 2,500 travelled from Wigan)

Weather

Warm.