Gateshead 20 Sheffield Eagles 32: Yere hat-trick secures the victory for rusty Eagles against gritty Gateshead

Sheffield Eagles made hard work of beating last season’s Championship whipping boys Gateshead Thunder in their first hit out of the season.

The Eagles were always ahead on a waterlogged and heavy pitch but were unable to build on a bright opening in stamina sapping conditions.

Sheffield scored three tries in the opening quarter, two of them converted, but then struggled to create openings.

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Peter Green put Tim Bergin in for the first after three minutes and then Simon Brown intercepted a pass midway inside the Thunder half.

Menzie Yere was the beneficiary, and then Danny Mills squeezed over in the corner.

Gateshead defended resolutely to prevent further damage in the first half and then came back strongly in the second. Close-range tries from David Norman and Wayne Green proved Thunder would be no pushovers as the rain continued.

Powerful Eagles centre Yere, however, proved to be the matchwinner with a hat-trick that ensured Mark Aston’s men started with a win.

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Yere’s strength down the left punished an otherwise solid Gateshead defence, Corey Hanson also scoring, from an Andrew Henderson grubber.

Yere’s third try four minutes from time finally put the tie to bed, on a day where expansive rugby was impossible.

Gateshead Thunder: Brown, Olugbode, Morris, Green, Peers, Clarkson, Clark, Welton, Hodgson, Crowther, Kelly, Ward, Payne. Substitutes: Young, Norman, Steveley, Parker.

Sheffield Eagles: Cottle, Mills, Yere, Hanson, Bergin, McDonald, Brown, Howieson, Henderson, Rowe, Szostak, Green, Hirst. Substitutes: Higgins, Smith, Stringer, Watson.

Referee: R Laughton (Barnsley).