Championship Summer Bash Predictions: Contenders could lose again whilst rivals battle out draw

It’s round 12 of the Championship and it’s the marquee event of the competition in the form of the Summer Bash, with all seven games set to be played at York’s LNER Stadium.

All 14 teams will play across Saturday and Sunday in a weekend of rugby league action and there could be set for some huge results too.

All seven of the games are available to watch with Viaplay broadcasting London Broncos vs Toulouse Olympique and York Knights vs Featherstone Rovers. The remaining five fixtures will be shown on the OurLeague app available as pay-per-view.

Saturday 27th May

Widnes Vikings vs Swinton Lions: 12:45pm on OurLeague
Prediction: Widnes 24-16 Swinton

The Vikings get the weekend under way when they face Swinton and John Kear’s side desperately need a return to winning ways. Having been nilled by Featherstone last week they’ll be keen to get points on the board against a Swinton side who have struggled generally. The Lions have had an upturn in performances with their win over Toulouse being one of the shock results of the season and they followed it up in a thrilling 44-38 loss to Bradford, but Widnes should have too much still.

Whitehaven vs Barrow Raiders: 15:oopm on OurLeague
Prediction: Whitehaven 20-22 Barrow

The Cumbrian derby is next up and it was a feisty affair on Good Friday in the previous match-up. That saw both sides fined by the RFL for crowd misconduct as Whitehaven nicked a 16-14 win, but this could be the game to kickstart the Raiders season and they’re fancied to just sneak this game.

London Broncos vs Toulouse Olympique: 17:15pm on Viaplay Sports
Prediction: London 24-20 Toulouse

This could be another close game and it’s London’s second game in a row at the LNER having been dumped out of the cup by York here last week. It’s two weeks since Toulouse last played and the rest will have likely helped as they’ve lost their last two games and only won three times on the road all year. With London having brought in former Super League man Dean Whare and the French sides’ poor form it could be time to back the Broncos.

Featherstone Rovers vs York Knights: 19:30pm on Viaplay Sports
Prediction: Featherstone 34-16 York

Despite the game being hosted at York it’s Fev who are listed as the home side here and they will likely continue their strong form and secure yet another win. Rovers are unbeaten in the league and put York to the sword by a score of 46-4 just two months ago. With new signings such as Daniel Smith having arrived since then they should be able to stop York’s four game winning run.

Sunday 28th May

Newcastle Thunder vs Sheffield Eagles: 13:45pm on OurLeague
Prediction: Newcastle 10-42 Sheffield

This could be the first game in which there is a runaway winner with Newcastle winless in the league since round one. They’ve managed a draw and a couple of cup wins against lower league opposition in the meantime but this doesn’t look like their first win in a while. That’s because the Eagles are making a strong playoff push and they can improve on their 44-20 win over the Eagles seven weeks ago. The hope for Newcastle would be that in their two games at the LNER this season they’ve only lost by a combined total of six points.

Halifax Panthers vs Batley Bulldogs: 16:00 on OurLeague
Prediction: Halifax 26-24 Batley

This is arguably the game of the weekend between the teams sat fourth and fifth in the table. Both teams lost to Super League opposition in the cup last week, and they’d both been on four game winning streaks in the league prior to that. The earlier meeting this year saw Fax win 20-16 and they’re taken to just edge this one although it could easily swing either way.

Keighley Cougars vs Bradford Bulls: 18:15 on OurLeague
Prediction: Keighley 20-20 Bradford

The game that rounds off the weekend sees Keighley face Bradford for the second time this season however both sides are now under different coaching. Both Mark Dunning and Rhys Lovegrove have lost their jobs since that last game which saw the Cougars run out as 34-6 winners. This game ought to be a lot closer and could even be a draw, with both sides displaying similar form of two wins in five as they lurk outside the playoffs in ninth and seventh respectively.