Championship RL results and round-up: Leeds Rhinos bound star receives red card as club secures safety

Ahead of York City Knights’ battle with Bradford Bulls on Premier Sports on Monday, the rest of the Championship action for another week has concluded with more fascinating narratives unfurling as the season draws to a superb crescendo.

The weekend began with a tight battle between Sheffield Eagles and Halifax Panthers. After a tight game for 50 minutes which saw the Panthers trailing 20-16, two Joe Arundle tries saw him complete a hat-trick to take the Panthers 26-20 ahead.

Halfback Joe Keyes seemingly wrapped up the win for Halifax when his try made it 32-20 but the Eagles made them work for the victory as Brandon Douglas went over for the try setting up a nervy finish but Halifax held on for long enough to claim the win.

Today, Barrow made it back-to-back defeats for Batley as they closed the gap on the fourth place Bulldogs down to 1 point knowing that taking that spot would give them home advantage in the play-offs.

They were helped by a brace of tries from Luke Cresswell on the day as they claimed a 30-12 win with Hakim Miloudi getting a try as well. The win opens the door for York to move level on points with Batley in the top four.

A similar game panned out at Whitehaven as they lost 12-26 to Widnes who continue to look much better under new boss John Kear. Keep an eye on them moving into 2023.

Speaking of clubs who have found form recently, London kept up their much more positive form recently with a resounding win over Workington.

A solid first half saw them claim a 16-0 lead and it was straight forward from there with fullback Walker crossing for two tries.

That win secures their survival as it leaves 10 points between them and 13th place Dewsbury with four games to go.

Speaking of the Rams, their misery gets worse as they were battered by Featherstone 72-6 with Craig Hall helping himself to a hat-trick and nine goals for a total of 30 points as Luke Briscoe also crossed for a brace.

There was similar carnage at Newcastle as league leaders Leigh took another step towards securing top spot with a 60-0 win. There were braces of tries for Edwin Ipape and Tom Nisbet.

It wasn’t all good for the Centurions with tempers flaring late on resulting in Leeds bound James McDonnell receiving a red card.

Results:

Sheffield Eagles 26-32 Halifax Panthers
Batley Bulldogs 12-30 Barrow Raiders
Whitehaven 12-26 Widnes Vikings
London Broncos 38-12 Workington Town
Featherstone Rovers 72-6 Dewsbury Rams
Newcastle Thunder 0-60 Leigh Centurions