Widnes Vikings and Swinton Lions kicked off the 2023 Summer Bash at York’s LNER Community Stadium.
The Vikings took charge of the contest after breaking the deadlock in the 28th minute. Ryan Ince’s try was followed by scores from Joe Lyons and Kieran Dixon before the break.
Sam Royle hit back for Swinton, however, tries from Jack Owens, Ince and Dixon gave the Vikings a 38-6 victory.
Game Two saw Barrow Raiders face off against Whitehaven in a Cumbrian Derby.
Curtis Teare opened the scoring for Haven, before Shane Toal levelled the scoring shortly after.
Luke Cresswell and Jarrod Sammut scored before half-time to put the Raiders into a 18-6 lead.
Like the first half, Teare opened the scoring. The winger scored an acrobatic effort to narrow the deficit.
Forwards, Danny Langtree and Anton Iaria both crossed for tries to extend Barrow’s lead to 32-10.
Josh Rourke scored a late consolation try for Whitehaven, but it was Barrow who took the Cumbrian Derby.
London Broncos moved up to eighth in the Betfred Championship after defeating Toulouse Olympique.
Former New Zealand international, Dean Whare, touched down for a try on debut. Will Lovell added a score before half-time. This was extended further as Oli Leyland converted a penalty after the hooter.
Leyland added a further penalty 12 minutes into the second half.
Anthony Marion scored a late brace as Toulouse attempted to fight back, however, London were able to hold on to the 14-10 success.
The final game of day one saw league leaders, Featherstone Rovers, face York Knights.
After dominant much of the early field position, Featherstone made the pressure pay through a try in the corner from Gareth Gale.
Rovers’ forward Gadwin Springer barged his way over despite the best efforts of the York defence.
Jesse Dee hit back for York before the half hour mark, before Featherstone added a further score from Mckenzie Yei.
Gale completed his hat-trick in the second half with two tries before the hour mark. Rovers scored an impressive try as John Davies, Thomas Lacans and Conor Jones linked up to score as Featherstone went into a 30-4 lead.
Jonathon Ford and Lacans scored tries either side of a Joe Brown score.
Josh Daley scored a consolation try for the Knights, however, it was Featherstone who had the final say. Gale rounded off the evening with his fourth try of the match.
The Betfred Championship action on Day Two kicked-off with Newcastle Thunder taking on Sheffield Eagles.
Sheffield raced into a lead after tries from Bayley Liu and Ben Jones-Bishop inside the opening 10 minutes.
Gideo Boafo latched on to a great pass from Nikau Williams for Thunders’ opening score.
Kris Welham and Brandon Douglas both scored tries for the Eagles as Mark Aston’s side headed to the break with a 24-6 lead.
Connor Bailey’s try for Newcastle gave them a great start to the second half. This was quickly cancelled out after Liu and Jones-Bishop scored their second tries of the afternoon.
Dane Windrow scored for Thunder before Denvive Balmforth touched down a Williams’ grubber.
Thunders’ momentum was halted after Izaac Farrell converted a penalty.
Balmforth and Alex Clegg scored tries inside the final five minutes to set up a great finish. Sheffield were able to hold on to the 38-32 win.
Craig Lingard’s Batley Bulldogs moved up to third after victory over Halifax Panthers.
Brandon Moore and James Woodburn-Hall scored tries inside the opening quarter as Halifax raced into a 12-0 lead.
However, that was as good as it got for the Panthers. Elliott Kear dived over in the corner on the half hour mark, which sent the sides to the break with a score of 12-4.
Dane Manning won the race to a grubber kick to score inside the first five minutes of the second half. Josh Woods put Batley ahead just ten minutes later with a try of his own.
The contest was closely fought until James Meadows scored for Batley with just two minutes remaining.
The final match of the weekend saw Bradford Bulls face Keighley Cougars in a local derby.
Keighley got off to a perfect start as Ben Crooks scored inside the opening 70 seconds. Alix Stephenson doubled the Cougars’ lead just seven minutes later.
Ben Blackmore and Kieran Gill closed the score with tries in quick succession.
Crooks added a further try for Keighley, before Jack Walker hit back for Bradford.
The Bulls came out firing in the second half, as Walker went over for his second.
Kieran Gill, Keven Appo, David Foggin-Johnson and Ben Blackmore all added tries as Bradford scored 34 unanswered points on their way to victory.
Summer Bash Results:
- Widnes Vikings 38-6 Swinton Lions
- Whitehaven 16-32 Barrow Raiders
- London Broncos 14-10 Toulouse
- Featherstone Rovers 46-16 York Knights
- Newcastle Thunder 32-38 Sheffield Eagles
- Halifax Panthers 12-20 Batley Bulldogs
- Keighley Cougars 18-42 Bradford Bulls
