The Sheffield Eagles started the 2025 RFL Championship with defeat to Halifax Panthers on Sunday.
There were significant debuts on both sides – most notably former Hull FC man Morgan Smith lining up in the halves for the home side, and St Helens icon Konrad Hurrell making a first appearance on loan for the Panthers, a week ahead of schedule.
Cory Aston, soon after becoming the second-highest points scorer in the club’s history, kicked off to get their 2025 RFL Championship campaign underway.
The first break went the way of the away side, four minutes in, with winger Ben Tibbs racing away but losing the ball in the tackle.
The Panthers would certainly have been the happier of the sides for the first ten minutes of play, but the Eagles got possession in the Fax 30 after dragging a Halifax man into touch.
A rare chance – and a penalty gave Halifax the territory again.
Blake Broadbent was forced off with a head injury, and shortly after, teammate Alex Foster was down with a head injury of his own, and it seemed that he took a knee to the head in a tackle, meaning the doctor was needed again.
The Panthers had the territory battle locked down, and it seemed that a bit of luck would be needed by Sheffield – and it came when a Reiss Butterworth kick was charged down, flew into the air and was retrieved by the home side.
Incredibly, they then went through to score through Morgan Smith – such is sport. One chance, one try – but Cory Aston shanked his conversion attempt uncharacteristically wide.
A DEBUT TRY FOR MORGAN SMITH!!!!!!!!!
4-0 | #OneClub pic.twitter.com/tLJrjQh5lB
— Sheffield Eagles (@SheffieldEagles) February 16, 2025
The Eagles now looked alive again, and won a penalty. Soon after that, some great work from Battye gave Farrell the freedom of Attercliffe to go over the line. – before Aston missed the kick again.
With 10 left in the half, Tibbs broke down the left again, and this time, he kicked through where two Panthers men were chasing it down.
Tom Inman won the race, and dived down to put ‘Fax on the board, before Jouffret added the extras, bringing the Panthers within four.
Some sustained Eagles pressure with a penalty and a drop-out resulted in a try minutes from the break! Dickinson and Gwaze with offloads from very close to the ground gave Lewis Peachey an easy four-pointer, which turned to six when Aston made it third time lucky.
The second half saw the Panthers win an Eagles scrum against the head (yes, you’re reading that right), then give away a penalty, then get it back due to an Eagles knock-on. There wasn’t a stoppage for about eight minutes of the first, but the second started in a stop-start manner.
Halifax then scored a deserved try through Owen McCarron in the corner, and an excellent conversion from Jouffret put them within two points, ten minutes into the half.
Right after that, they were in again – an Inman grubber showed exactly what shape the ball is – it was kicked left, but bounced way over to the right, and McCarron was first to it again and Jouffret added two more. Ahead for the first time, it was 14-18.
56′ TRY THE PANTHERS HIT THE FRONT!!! What a response after half time as Fax are over again. Last tackle kick is deflected behind the sticks as Owen McCarron shows great determination to get there first and dive on it for his second of the game (14-16) pic.twitter.com/3NZLUypaOo
— Halifax Panthers 🐾 (@HalifaxPanthers) February 16, 2025
They almost extended it through Konrad Hurrell, but he was denied a debut try as the ball got to him after going forward after Saltonstall grabbed a Hansen kick.
However, they did then score through Brad Graham, who got onto a fantastic pass from Woodburn-Hall to go through under the sticks – only for Jouffret to one-up Aston’s earlier misses with a remarkably shanked effort, keeping the score to 14-22.
But not for long! Crooks over to Tibbs to extend the lead on the left again, and the kick was slotted this time to make it 14-28 with 8 to go.
The Panthers held on comfortably in the end, and they take the points from this one.
⏹️ FULL TIME | It’s defeat in our Betfred Championship season opener this afternoon.#OneClub pic.twitter.com/ICUCIbezZN
— Sheffield Eagles (@SheffieldEagles) February 16, 2025
Eagles: 26 WALKER, 2 JONES-BISHOP, 3 WELHAM, 23 FOSTER, 5 DAWSON-JONES, 6 ASTON, 7 SMITH; 16 BROADBENT, 18 BUSSEY, 10 DICKINSON, 15 HODGSON, 12 FARRELL, 13 GWAZE
Interchanges: 8 BATTYE, 14 BUTTERWORTH, 20 PEACHEY, 21 MILLAR
18th Man: 22 MATONGO
Panthers: 1 JOUFFRET, 2 TIBBS, 31 HURRELL (D), 4 CROOKS ©, 5 SALTONSTALL, 6 WOODBURN-HALL, 7 HANSEN; 8 DOUGLAS, 9 O’BRIEN, 16 DIXON, 11 MCCARRON, 19 MCCOMB, 13 FAIRBANK
Interchanges:14 INMAN, 10 HIRD, 17 CALCOTT, 20 B GRAHAM
18th Man: 15 DAVIES
FULL-TIME: Sheffield Eagles 14-28 Halifax Panthers
