Leeds Rhinos are on the brink of survival after overcoming a scare to record a 34-6 victory at Halifax.
After London Broncos, Toulouse Olympique and Toronto Wolfpack claimed a remarkable hat-trick of wins for Championship clubs over Betfred Super League opposition on Saturday, Halifax were aiming to cause the biggest upset of them all against the Rhinos.
But a professional performance from the fallen champions virtually assured their safety and left Richard Marshall's part-timers staring at a second successive winless Qualifiers campaign.
The scoreline flattered Leeds who were out-enthused in the first half and needed a quickfire double from Brad Dwyer just after the interval to end Halifax's resistance.
Liam Sutcliffe put the result beyond doubt and finished with five goals after late efforts from Cameron Smith and Luke Briscoe.
Fax had gone into the break level after Steve Tyrer's spectacular finish cancelled out Richie Myler's opener but they were unable to maintain their intensity as fatigue set in.
Leeds director of rugby Kevin Sinfield said: "We’d love to come top of the Qualifiers and know there’s a scrap beneath us.
"At the minute it’s in our hands. Why would we allow it to come down to points difference and everyone getting their calculators out?
"Toronto will be desperate but it’s our last home game of the year. We’ve not been great all year and it’d be really nice to send the fans home next Friday night knowing we’re on the right track.
"Credit to Halifax, they threw a whole lot of good things at us.
"We prepared for the best of Halifax all week but for Championship teams to be four from four today would have meant something to all of them and especially to Halifax.
"Richard Marshall has done a fantastic job with his team and at 6-6 they were well worth it. The fact we’re full-time probably showed in the end. It’s a big win for us."
Halifax counterpart Marshall said: "We’re going to have to invest on and off the field but on the whole we’re really optimistic for the future here at Halifax.
"The Championship has been fantastic this year – look at the Qualifiers yesterday.
"It’s a shame we couldn’t emulate the other teams, but we’ll be looking to get a win at London next week. We haven’t given it up, no way."
