SHEFFIELD 38 WIRRAL 3 

In difficult conditions Sheffield played the ideal game to beat Wirral with long touch-finding kicks and astute grubber kicks to keep Wirral under pressure.

It was no surprise that Sheffield took the lead but it was the manner in which they scored by breaking down the Wirral defence 60m out which belied conditions with which both teams were faced.

The home side's centre broke through to set up the supporting wing forward with a run in.

Wirral reduced the arrears with a penalty by Dan Harvey having previously spurned a number of opportunities to get points on the board.

In the remaining minutes of the first half, Wirral conceded two further kickable penalties which Cribley, the Sheffield full back, converted to give the home side a 11-3 lead at half time, with Wirral feeling they were still in the game.

The second half started in the same fashion as the end of the first with pressure from Sheffield resulting in two more Cribley penalties extending Sheffield's lead to 17-3.

Wirral rallied but could not make progress against what was a confident Sheffield side.

In the final 20 minutes as injuries disrupted the Wirral team, the home side ran in three tries from close range, all converted to give the home side a 38-3 victory along with a try bonus point.

Sheffield adapted to the conditions much better than Wirral but overall it was a lack lustre performance by the away side who will be looking to regain some form against Cleckheaton next week.