» February 18th 2001
» TOWN 15:12 SHEFFIELD EAGLES

The final score does not reflect the amount of possession that Town enjoyed throughout this match. This possession should have given Town an early lead and ultimately a bigger winning margin.

The early exchanges saw each side completing their sets of six and producing kicks that would test each other's defence. Whether they were launching probing kicks for position or grubber kicks into the in-goal areas, both defences were able to deal with them.

The early chances fell to Town and when Craig Rumney released Jamie Beaumont the chance of an early score looked possible. However the final pass to Leigh Smith, who had the line at his mercy was judged to be forward.

Craig Rumney was involved in the next few Town attacks. He was tackled short on the last tackle on one attack and was responsible for the bombs and kick through on several other occasions. The Sheffield defence dealt with these kicks with ease.

The Eagles were also lively in attack and the kicking of Mark Aston was also testing the Town Defence. On several occasions the defence were responsible for thwarting the Eagles attack by defusing their kicks and some good tackling.

The first points of the days went to Town. Steve McGrady made a crunching tackle on the Eagles attacker and the ball popped out. McGrady pounced on the loose ball and Town had the advantage inside the Sheffield half. Some good passing and handling by Town allowed Jamie Smith to go in at the corner. Kevin Hetherington missing with the touchline conversion attempt to make the score 4 - 0 to Town.

Sheffield were to enjoy the possession for the last ten minutes of the half. A high kick was collected by Graeme Lewthwaite, but he was tackled into touch. From the resulting scrum Sheffield probed the Town defence. A forward pass was missed by the referee and the Eagles scored close to the posts. Gavin Brown was successful with the conversion to put the Eagles into a 6 -4 lead.

It was Sheffield who would add the next score before halftime. Eagles had the possession and attacked the Town line. The Town defence was drawn in and a gap out wide was created. The Eagles attack exploited this and the winger was able to go in at the corner. Brown missed the conversion to make the halftime score 10 - 4 to Sheffield.

The second half again saw Town enjoy all the early possession. Hitro Okesene stole the ball in a one on one tackle and good passing gave Town positional advantage. Town were attacking the Eagles line and Fata Sini was held up over the line. At the resulting scrum Carl Sice went in at scrum half and his pass from the scrum was knocked on by Kevin Hetherington giving the possession back to the Eagles.

On 47 minutes Town were again on the attack. The Eagles gave away a penalty for offside and this was moved 10 metres forward after the Eagles players disputed the penalty. A good set of six tackles from Town saw them gain advantage and on the last tackle Carl Sice attacked the line, but he was tackled under the posts.

Town were to make all the possession count when Matt Sturm took the ball on the last tackle and released Graeme Lewthwaite. Lewthwaite sped for the line and somehow was able to score in the corner despite the attentions of three tacklers. Kevin Hetherington kicked the conversion from the touchline to tie the scores at 10 - 10.

On 63 minutes Sheffield were awarded a penalty for holding in the tackle and the Eagles elected to kick the penalty. The penalty was converted to put the Eagles back in front 12 - 10.

The kick-off saw Town launch a high, short kick and the first under the ball was Graeme Lewthwaite who knocked the ball back into the arms of the Town attack. Some good attacking runs from Town pushed them deep into the Sheffield half and Graeme Lewthwaite took the ball, ran at the Sheffield line and went in at the corner, again ignoring the attentions of the defensive tacklers. Kevin Hetherington missed with the conversion attempt and Town were back in the lead 14 - 12.

The Town lead was further extended after a kick from Town was not dealt with by the Sheffield defence and the flying Lewthwaite was able to tackle the winger into touch when he attempted to pick up the ball. The resulting possession from the scrum saw Town pass the ball across the line attempting to find the gaps. Unable to find the gaps Town elected to go for the drop goal and Kevin Hetherington took the chance and slotted over the kick for the one point to extend the Town lead to 15 - 12.

The final minutes of the half saw Town under pressure. The short kick-off from Sheffield was deemed to have been knocked-on by Leigh Smith. Sheffield attacked the line from the scrum, but the Town defence stood firm. Hearts were in mouths as Town attempted to run the ball out of their own half. A knock-on from Town saw them having to soak up another set of six, but again the Town line held. Eventually Town took control and drove the ball forward and kicked deep into the Eagles half as the final hooter sounded.

The sponsor's man of the match award went to Matt Sturm, who had a good game leading the Town attack at every opportunity and some strong defensive tackling

Town:-
Jamie Smith, Fata Sini, Steve McGrady, Leigh Smith, Graeme Lewthwaite, Kevin Hetherington, Craig Rumney, Hitro Okesene, Carl Sice, Lokeni Savelio, Jamie Beaumont, Matt Sturm, Anthony Samuel
Subs: William Blackburn, Matthew Tunstall, Neil Frazer, Stuart Hoyles

Referee: Mr. C.A. Morris