Eagles run riot over Workington to open up clear gap at top of the table

The Eagles were too slick for Workington with centre Menzie Yere equalling a club record with his 35th try of the season.

The home side were always in control and faced 12 men after five minutes when Elliott Miller was shown a red card for punching Quentin Laulu-Togagae.

From a penalty near the posts the Eagles used the position for Dominic Brambani to put in a chip kick for centre Matt Garside to touch down.

Eagles then forced back-to-back sets with prop Eddie Battye running on to an inside pass from James Davey to crash over.

Town were made to pay further when a chip kick by Peter Lupton was picked up by Patch Walker who sent Menzie Yere away for his record-equalling try. Brambani converted all three tries.

The wet conditions saw handling errors as the visitors kept the score to 18-0 at the break.

A dour battle after the restart was finally broken with Yere producing an offload for Laulu-Togagae to race in from the halfway line.

Teenager Cory Aston, son of the Eagles coach Mark, making his league debut at half-back exchanged passes with Michael Knowles before going in for a try.

Town were tiring but dug deep to hold the Eagles attempts to step up the pace. The visitors looked set to get a consolation try but full-back Brett Carter knocked on.

The Eagles’ pressure had to tell and prop Mitch Stringer crashed over from James Davey’s pass.

Walker converted all the second-half tries.

Sheffield Eagles: Laulu-Togagae; Turner, Yere, Garside, Finigan; Walker, Brambani; Battye, Davey, Stringer, Knowles, Szostak Hirst. Substitutes: Aston, Green, Roche, Straugheir.

Workington: Carter; Miller, Mossop, Connor, Flynn; Lupton, Forber; Dowes, Callum Phillips, Coward, Brett Phillips, Stackley, Rooney. Substitutes: Acton, Thackray, Robinson, Morris.

Referee: D Merrick (RFL).