REPORT - Sheffield Eagles 0 Dons 46

The Dons breezed past local rivals Sheffield Eagles to take an emphatic South Yorkshire derby day win at the Steel City Stadium.

Richard Horne's men got off to a fantastic start in the first half in the Betfred Championship and led by 32 points at the break thanks to tries from Bureta Faraimo, Luis Johnson, James Glover, Cory Aston, Tom Holmes and Connor Jones.

Glover and Jones both completed braces in the second half as Reece Lyne also got on the scoresheet in what was both the Dons' highest scoring and biggest winning margin in Sheffield.
Horne made seven changes to the side that started in the demolishing win against Swinton Lions five days earlier, with Glover, Aston, Jones, Suaia Matagi, Alex Sutcliffe, Johnson and Muizz Mustapha all handed spots in the starting XIII. Loui McConnell made his 100th senior career appearance on the afternoon after featuring as an interchange.
The Dons started brightly and opened the scoring after four minutes after the Eagles dropped the ball during tackle. The visitors shifted play all the way to the right wing, where Faraimo raced in at the corner for an early four-point lead.
Sheffield went close for the first time on nine minutes, only to see Kieran Gill dragged into touch on the right, ten metres out.
And Horne's men made that missed opportunity pay four minutes later. The visitors went left from a scrum ten out, then back over to the right, where Johnson took on the football and bundled his way over the line. Robinson added the extras.
The Dons were on top and put themselves in another good try-scoring position after Aston's huge 40/20 attempt put them ten metres out again. After a penalty in the centre, the away side went to the left and found Glover, who spotted the gap to slice through and score with ease after 29 minutes. Robinson converted. 0-16.
The visitors were in the mood and went over again three minutes later. Aston's kick forward on the last was palmed back inside by Faraimo, and the Dons skipper was on hand to race onto it and sprint away to ground and score against his former employers. Robinson added the extras again.
Horne's side scored again in the dying minutes of the first half. A stroke of fortune saw the Dons keep the football after a kick on the last, and Holmes made the most of it, climbing his way over to score on the right for a 26-point lead.
And there was still time for another Dons try just before the half time hooter. Connor Jones found an opening on the left and squirmed his way through to score. Robinson again successfully converted. The away side went in at the break with a 0-32 scoreline to hand.
The visitors were in no mood for hanging about after the break either, scoring again just two minutes after the restart. The hosts fumbled the collection of kick off, and the Dons capitalised, shifting play and the ball out to the right wing, where Lyne scrambled in at the corner.
On 48 minutes, Horne's men found the try line again. Captain Aston kicked over to the left and found Glover, who wonderfully dived over for his second grounding of the day. 0-40.
The vast majority of the next 20 minutes was spent on the Dons line, but the visitors' goal line defence was superb, and Sheffield were left frustrated at being unable to break through.
For all of the Eagles' hard work, it was all in vain as the Dons put the final nail in the coffin with six minutes left to play. Connor Jones picked up the ball to the left of the sticks and made a short burst at the line to go over and score. Robinson again successfully converted.
The hosts threw everything at it in the remaining time left as they looked to mark the scoresheet with a late consolation try, but the Dons were having none of it as they kept the home side out to win to nil.
Horne's men took a thoroughly deserved 0-46 South Yorkshire Cup win on enemy territory.
Dons: Holmes, Faraimo, Lyne, Glover, Gebbie, Robinson, Aston, Gwaze, C. Jones, Matagi, Sutcliffe, Johnson, Mustapha. Interchanges: McConnell, J. Jones, Pauli, Hepi.