Sunday's Coming: Sheffield Eagles

Sunday sees Hornets travel to Sheffield Eagles in what is a proper, old-skool shit-or-bust contest on which the immediate future of our club hangs.

But coming into this one, it’s Sheffield suffering the existential crisis: players seemingly no longer caring and a coach in despair.

With no win in four, we reckon it’s safe to say that morale is through the floor at the Attercliffe Common Community Kick Pitch™. After the Eagles home defeat against a busted Barrow side with only three viable substitutes (NB: also their first away win of the year), Coach Mark Aston was inconsolable. Speaking in League Weekly he said: “The team that wanted it more won. They’ll now finish above us and justfiably so. I have no complaints.”

Of his players he said: “Why do they play the game? It should be for the love of the game, not to pay your bills. If you’re not professional, would you play amateur? Go and ask some of my guys and see what they say.”

And Aston was brutally honest on his own feelings: “We’ve hit rock bottom. This will probably go down as the lowest point of Sheffield Eagles for me persojally. The good thing is we only have one more week left.”

Speaking in the Sheffield Star, he continued in much the same vein: ““It frustrates the life out of me. I do not know what that represents because it doesn't represent this club and what we stand for. There's three sessions and one game to go and then I can put it to bed and then move on because it gets more painful.”

 “Even if we won (against Hornets) would it end on a high? Not really because the performances and the mentality and what we are in that changing room is not what we stand for and what we are about. It has petered out. Does it surprise me? Not one iota.”

Grounds for Complaint: Somewhere along the line,
the vision for the Olympic Legacy Park got diluted.

In the five years since the demolition of Don Valley Stadium , the Eagles have led a peripatetic existence - and the return to the new ‘ground’ in Sheffield was heralded as a saving grace for the club. But as recently as June it was  reported that the annual cost of the Eagles using the facilities at the OLP had nearly quadrupled from an initial estimate of £30,000 - (more than they ever paid at the DVS) - to more than £115,000. Quite a bill for a plastic pitch, a plastic fence, a plastic tent containing plastic seats - and plastic Portaloos.

In the latest episode of Rugby League’s longest running soap-opera, site owners The Scarborough Group announced last month that the £5m developmnent of the site into a bona-fide 3,900-capacity stadium has finally been rubber-stamped. Development is envisaged to start next February and take a year. Designs suggest that it will will comprise a grandstand on one side and and terracing on the other three.  But don’t hold your breath…

Hornets come into this game on the back of a morale-boosting win over Dewsbury Rams. In the aftermath,  disappointed Rams Coach Neil Kelly handed in his notice stating ‘personal reasons’ for his departure.

Having already played two ‘most important games in the club’s recent history’, there’s no doubt that - in light of the restructure - Sunday’s game takes on imperative, must-win, Cup Final status. With Swinton facing an uphill task at Batley (see what we did there?), a win or a draw at the OLP and a defeat for the Lions would secure Hornets’ Championship status for another year and condemn our near neighbours to play in the Ridiculous Relegation Shithouse Playoff™.

But it means laying an almighty bogey. Traditionally Sheffield has been a graveyard where wins are scarce. Having battled through 26 rounds against the odds, Hornets now have 80 minutes to prove everyone wrong: expecially Ralph (the) Rimmer, who has been mentioning us as defacto Ridiculous Relegation Shithouse Playoff™ fodder since the restructure took place.

It’s time for every Hornet to stand-up and be counted: 80 minutes left to give everything we have - on and off the field - to salvage the season and set us up for the future. All Rugby League fans want is to watch our teams play in games that mean something - and this one is huge. Indeed, it’s gladiatorial.

We implore all Hornets fans to make one last effort to get over to Sheffield and give your all in support of the lads. It’s a big ask - but it’s a big task. We need everyone on deck. With enough willing voices, we could make this feel like a home game - and we need every advantage we can.

See you Sunday. Bring your singing voice.

Directions for Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park:

(Post code S9 3TL)

- Follow M62 and M1 to Tinsley Viaduct/A631 in Sheffield. Take exit 34 from M1
- Follow Tinsley Viaduct/A631 / Attercliffe Common/A6178
- At Meadowhall Roundabout, take the 3rd exit onto Tinsley Viaduct/A631
- At the roundabout, take the 5th exit onto Sheffield Rd/A6178
- At the roundabout, take the 1st exit onto A6178
- At the roundabout, take the 1st exit onto Attercliffe Common/A6178
- At the roundabout, take the 1st exit and stay on Attercliffe Common/A6178

And finally...
Half an idea for an impromptu Hornets fundraiser: Sheffield ordinarily charge £17 to get in at their games, but on Sunday are only charging a fiver. Given the saving, how do people feel about donating a tenner of that saving to Hornets? You'll still be £2 up on the deal and we can help Hornets cover some of our running costs.

Gritty Hornets Go The Distance

Hornets 26 Dewsbury 22

“I realise a miracle is due, I dedicate this melody to you. But is this the stuff dreams are made of?”
Second Skin, The Chameleons

This last week people have spoken much about lifelines, last-chances and miracle escapes. Post match, interim Hornets chair Peter Rush spoke of ’two lifelines’ for staying in the Championship - but we’d like to hope that that’ll be one too many for our requirements.

A robust, gritty performance from a never-say-die Hornets pulled us level with a Swinton side who tossed away a half-time lead to ship a bagful of second-half points.

But things started awfully for Hornets: 10-nil down in as many minutes as Knowles made the extra man to exploit a stretched defence and then Delaney under the black dot off a Sykes break.

The Hornets cogs finally clicked when Rob Massam out-jumped Worrincy to tap the ball back to the prowling Seta Tala to score.

Dewsbury then produced a phase of shapeless, shoddy play - a series of knock-ons and penalties relieving what little pressure they applied. Hornets, however, strove to keep the ball alive - and when Richard Lepori’s neat break created space out-wide he fed Deon Cross in to score: 8-10.

With both sides now struggling to complete sets, fluid football was at a premium: Ben Moores held up from short range, Danny Yates’ attempted intercept slipping from his fingers…

On the half-hour Hornets struck lucky: a lazy Rams pass was scooped up by Deon Cross who hit the afterburners to blaze on from fully 70 metres, Hornets in front.

On 35 minutes, Dewsbury’s fullback spilled a straightforward pass, Hornets drove the ball to the line and, as defenders around him switched off, Dec Gregory produced the cheekiest of tries from half a metre, reaching round static defenders to plant the ball by the upright. Tyler Whittaker with the extras - and a late penalty for good measure to give Hornets an impressive half-time lead, courtesy of 20 unanswered points.

That became 26 just five minutes into the second half. More direct approach work from Hornets; Lewis Hatton arriving at pace onto a beautiful short-ball to score a try that was eye-catchingly elegant in its sheer simplicity. Tyler Whittaker slammed home the two  and Hornets looking comfortable at 26-10.

The next half hour became a war of attrition: Hornets delivering some committed defence as they ran out of substitutes (Joe Ryan and Dec Gregory with shoulder injuries; Joe Taira pressed back into late action despite a knee injury).

Meantime, Dewsbury threw the kitchen sink at a Hornets rearguard that refused to crack. Their only response a flukey 70m intercept from Worrincy, Sykes whittling the deficit to 10 points with 10 minutes to play.

Short on bodies, Hornets sucked in for a desperate finish, but when Delaney exploited an exhausted defence on 76 minutes (Sykes the extras) - from nowhere Dewsbury were within striking distance at 26-22.

It’s at times like this teams need to find a way to win. To refuse to lose.  Dewsbury with the momentum, Hornets throwing knackered bodies into tackles - this really was a case of ‘last man standing’.

With the clock showing 70 seconds remaining, Dewsbury took the ball to the heart of the Hornets defence - only for it to slip loose. Hornets played down the clock; Dewsbury conceding a penalty as the hooter sounded: Ben Moores running the tap into touch to give Rochdale Hornets a genuine shot at the impossible next week at Sheffield.

With 80 minutes of the 2018 season remaining, the maths are brutally simple: Hornets win or draw at Sheffield, and Swinton lose at Batley and we stay up. Any other permutation takes us all into the unknown of the RFL’s Riduculous Relegation Shithouse Playoff™.  Having been relegated once in a Championship reastructure (when the RFL sent five down in 2014) we’d like to think we’re owed a break.

If you’ve ever prayed, pray now. If you’ve never prayed, now’s a good time to start. A miracle is due…