Championship RL results and round-up: Madness at Halifax and Barrow beaten

Another fantastic weekend of Championship rugby league has been and gone with a slight shift at the top taking place over the last few days.

This round of Championship action started in Leigh with the Centurions taking on Dewsbury with Leigh having the chance to move to the top of the table for at least a couple of days with a win.

The occasion certainly didn’t get to them as they stormed into a 16-0 lead by halftime before going up the gears in the second half to rack up a 44-0 win over the Rams. There were tries for the inform Nene MacDonald and Caleb Aekins as well as a brace for former Super League Grand Finalist Krisnan Inu who finished the game with 20 points after kicking six goals.

On Sunday, in the early kick-off, York City Knights also racked up the points with a 44-18 win over Workington thanks to braces from James Glover and Liam Harris. The game was won in the first half with the Knights holding a 20-0 lead at the break. There was a double from Workington Town’s Matty Henson but it mattered very little as York claimed the win.

Continuing the theme of strong first halves, Featherstone sent themselves back to the top of the league against Sheffield on the back of a superb first half where new signings Joey Leilua, Luke Briscoe and Ryley Jacks picking up tries as they stormed 26-4 in front making for the perfect debut for new signing Mark Kheirallah has he has a second fist of becoming a Super League player after his dream with Toulouse came undone before he could even play one top tier game for the side after promotion.

Things were a bit better for the Eagles in the second half with three tries to accompany former Super League Champion Ben Jones-Bishop’s earlier effort but the Rovers finished strong to round off a 44-18 win.

Speaking of teams top of the table, Barrow succumbed to a first league defeat of the season at home against Batley despite the superb performance they produced against Huddersfield in the cup last week. Despite giving a debut to on loan Morgan Escare, the Raiders were beaten by a Tom Gilmore inspired Batley side with the halfback having an excellent game with the boot both in terms of out of hand kicks and attempts at goal in Batley’s 30-18 win.

In the game of the round Halifax hosted Whitehaven in a repeat of their play-off clash last year. The Panthers on the back of a big win over Workington last week trailed 24-10 with 22 minutes left to play thanks to a double from Nikau Williams.

However, a top class last quarter from the Panthers more than turned the game around as they racked up the points. Joe Keyes continued his superb form getting the comeback show on the road setting up a try for Ben Kavanagh before scoring himself in the 61st minute. Just four minutes on, Titus Gwaze stormed over to put Halifax in front. They then scored three more tries in the final 10 minutes with Lachlan Walmsley scoring against his former club and the Kavanagh-Keyes combo shining again to round off an amazing 46-24 win.

Points galore there, but points were at premium in London where Bradford edged the Broncos 8-6 for a third straight win. Matty Dawson-Jones gave the Bulls the lead in the 12th minute from a Jordan Lilley ball which made it 4-0. That was it in terms of tries for John Kear’s side but two penalties did take their lead out to 8-0.

The game got very tense late on as Lewis Bienek scored for the home side but the Bulls held on. The result does play second to the health of one Bradford supporter who needed medical attention mid-way through the first half which caused the game to stopped. Our thoughts are with them at this time.

The final game of the round will see Newcastle Thunder host Widnes Vikings on Premier Sports from 19:45.

Results in full:

Leigh Centurions 44-0 Dewsbury Rams
Workington Town 18-44 York City Knights
Barrow Raiders 18-30 Batley Bulldogs
Featherstone Rovers 44-18 Sheffield Eagles
Halifax Panthers 46-24 Whitehaven
London Broncos 6-8 Bradford Bulls