Sheffield hold off Oulton’s fightback

Mark Aston’s Sheffield, with eight regulars rested, sealed the win with four tries in the first 40 minutes from full-back Quentin Lalulu-Togagae.

The South Leeds amateurs never stopped battling and led by loose forward Danny Stanley battered the Eagles line for much of the final 40 minutes but could add only one try to a first-half score.

Oulton’s joint coach Mark Longley said: “I’m really proud of the lads, they stood up and held their own. In the second half we started to play with some belief and pinned them down.”

Samoan international Laulu-Togagae gave the Eagles a flying start but Raiders levelled with Stanley kicking on a loose ball and centre Danny Hardy touching down. Stanley’s touchline kick hit an upright.

In the final 20 minutes of the half Laulu-Togagae backed up well to complete his hat-trick before adding a fourth with a 60-metre break. Dane McDonald’s try made it 26-4 at half-time.

Nev Morrison’s try and a second for McDonald cemented the Eagles’ lead but Simon Brown could not add to his three first-half goals.

Then it was all Oulton but their only reward was a try from Luke Richardson.

In the final 10 minutes the Eagles pushed out the margin with tries from Ryan Hepworth, Sam Scott, Pat Smith and Duane Straugheir with Michael Knowles kicking all four goals.

Barrow Raiders gained a 32-22 win over French champions Lezignan.