Preston Grasshoppers 17 Sheffield 54: Leaders blitz hosts in second half
Despite the best efforts of Preston Grasshoppers, a second-half blitz saw the Sheffield juggernaut roll on towards seemingly inevitable promotion with a 15th win on the trot by a margin of 54-17.
Trailing 19-12 at half-time, Hoppers looked in with a chance.
Hoppers suffered badly from the penalty count, which did not help them territorially against a strong-running, well-organised Sheffield side. Two yellow cards, for Jacob Browne and Dec Norrington, in as many minutes at the start of the second half put them on the back foot and the visitors ran in five tries after the break.
Preston had found themselves 12-0 down after 20 minutes to tries by Chris Hooper and Callum Posa, before hitting back. Turnover ball and strong runs by Hoppers man of the match Ben Haigh and Owain Williams put Sam Freeman in for a try which he also converted.
Alex Reid went over from close range for Sheffield, with Posa converting, but a line-out drive ended with Harry Holden’s 11th try of the season to bring half-time hope to the home fans.
It was a false dawn. Sheffield quickly capitalised on referee Andrew Shaw’s yellow cards with a try by Llew Smith and added more from Zak Poole, Hooper, Rhodri Campbell and Will Smith, all converted by Posa, named the visitors’ man-of-the-match for the skilful way he ran the game.
Torkington’s late score was some comfort for Hoppers, but this defeat dropped them to 11th in National League Two North, thanks to wins for Billingham, Otley and Sheffield Tigers.
Meanwhile, Sheffield seem unstoppable.
“It was always going to be tough, but it was ‘game on’ until the last 30 minutes,” said Hoppers’ head coach Dan Orwin.
“The effort and fight were there and I am proud of the heart we showed. We still chased hard to get the last score of the game and the impact off the bench was massive, especially from James Torkington, who won a lot of turnovers.”