REPEAT or revenge would be an apt tagline to this weekend’s clash between York City Knights and Sheffield Eagles at the LNER Community Stadium (7.30pm).

The two sides kicked off the competitive domestic 2021 rugby league season last month at Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium, with York coming out on top as 30-6 winners in the Betfred Challenge Cup round one tie.

After a nip-and-tuck first half hour, York showed their class to score 24 unanswered points thereafter with Kriss Brining, Ben-Jones-Bishop and Ryan Atkins getting on the scoresheet, while Perry Whiteley completed his brace.

Having seen very little time lapse since that last meeting, a similar result could be expected again by many, but Sheffield responded brilliantly to that early setback.

Against the odds, Mark Aston’s side thrashed fellow play-off contenders Bradford Bulls 50-12 in round one of the Betfred Championship season.

Sheffield ran in 10 tries to seal the biggest win of any side in the opening round of the competition.

Although this may appear obvious given the scoreline, the result came in emphatic fashion too - the Eagles raced out of the blocks to lead 34-0 after 48 minutes.

James Glover, Anthony Thackeray and Aaron Brown all bagged braces for the South Yorkshire club.

It was also the first time they had reached a half century of points in their previous 22 matches in all competitions.

Bradford, it must be said, were missing a fair amount of their spine players, such as half-back Jordan Lilley, hooker George Flanagan and loose forward Sam Hallas but still had close-season Betfred Super League signings Danny Brough, Aaron Murphy and Adam Rooks to call upon, so it was by no means a second-string side they were up against.

The rout of the Bulls has been Sheffield’s only fixture since being knocked out of the cup by the Knights, both sides’ first games back after a year out of action amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Afterwards, Eagles coach Mark Aston praised the “first-class” commitment of his players but admitted that his side “looked like a team that hadn’t played for 12 months,” though they seemed to brush off any of that rustiness against Bradford.

Sheffield have made three changes to their 21-man squad ahead of the trip to York.

Former Hull KR, Hull Kingston Rovers and Castleford Tigers prop Scott Wheeldon and Scotland international forward Frankie Mariano make their returns and may be in line for their first appearances of the year.

Centre Jordan Bull, who signed from Castleford during the close-season, could also make his debut for the Eagles after being brought into the 21.

Back-rower Brad Knowles, hooker Robbie Ward and three-quarter Ryan Johnson miss out on spots in Aston’s squad.

There is a place in the squad for winger Rob Worrincy, who is just two tries short of 200 for his career.

Sheffield Eagles squad to face York City Knights: Guzdek, Worrincy, Glover, Millar, Thackeray, Wheeldon, Davey, James, J Farrell, Brown, G Burns, Davies, Mariano, Dickinson, Broadbent, P Burns, I Farrell, Tyson-Wilson, Bull, Render, Adlard.

To watch York take on Sheffield on Sunday, head to: www.rugby-league.com/livestream