The top six have been confirmed!
The top six has been confirmed!
The penultimate round of the Betfred Championship revealed plenty, with the top six Play-Off places officially confirmed after this weekend’s results.
But whereabouts will they finish within that six?
On Saturday, Bradford Bulls and Toulouse Olympique both ensured wins, but had to work hard to claim the two points.
The Bulls were pushed all the way by a determined London Broncos in the capital – in a game dedicated to being ‘Emilia’s Big Day.’
Raising awareness, the Broncos teamed up with blood cancer charity DKMS to organise a family fun day and stem cell donor registration event and saw a season high attendance and plenty of money raised in Round 25.
On the pitch, London had been leading 12-0 until the 36th minute, but a blitz of Bradford tries at either side of the half from Guy Armitage, Joe Keyes and Waqa Blake saw the Bulls cruise ahead.
Their dominance continued into the final quarter as Armitage grabbed a second and Luke Hooley put the game firmly out of reach.
Liam Tindall scored in between for the hosts and the Broncos kept fighting with another Tindall try two minutes from time, but Brian Noble’s men would come away with a crucial victory.
Meanwhile, Toulouse had to come from behind to beat Batley in the south of France.
There was no absolutely pressure on the Bulldogs, but they turned up and produced a valiant performance, challenging and making life very difficult for their French opponents at times.
This couldn’t stop an eight-try display from Sylvain Houles’ men, however, in what was a strong team performance and included an outstanding Olly Ashall-Bott double.
With one round remaining, Toulouse sit in second on 36 points with Bradford just two behind them in third.
The Olympique must win next week to maintain second place and secure a home Semi-Final in the Play-Offs. At the same time, the Bulls will be relying on Toulouse to lose so that they still have a chance to overtake them if they were to win at home to Featherstone.
On Sunday, a fired up Fev secured their place in the top six after beating Oldham at The Millenium Stadium.
The Roughyeds already had fourth place and a home Eliminator secured and couldn’t quite match Featherstone’s level of intensity in Round 25.
Derrell Olpherts, Bailey O’Connor and Jimmy Beckett were the Rovers’ try scorers, and their playmaker Ben Reynolds had a perfect afternoon with the kicking tee, converting six out of six goals.
This was Oldham’s final regular league game as they have their bye week in Round 26.
There is a chance that the teams could meet again at Boundary Park in two weeks’ time for the Play-Off Eliminator if Featherstone finish in fifth place. Although this could well be Halifax instead…
And a massively improeved Panthers made sure they’d be featuring in this year’s Play-Offs after breaking Widnes’ hearts on Sunday afternoon.
Allan Coleman’s side couldn’t overcome a 14-point halftime deficit as their Play-Off aspirations came to an end in a gutsy affair in West Yorkshire.
It had been a remarkable late season turnaround for the Vikings, but it wasn’t mean to be as Jack Hansen’s penalty goal would be what separated the two sides.
York Knights put one hand on the League Leaders’ Shield following a resounding victory at the Eco-Power Stadium – and their sixteen straight league win.
With one game to go, the Knights are two points clear of second place Toulouse but have a superior points difference which will take a huge effort to overturn.
Toa Mata’afa and Jesse Dee grabbed a hat-trick each as York nilled Doncaster for a second time this season.
Mark Applegarth’s men will welcome Batley to the LNER Community Stadium for a party in the final round, where they should go on to lift the League Leaders’ Shield…
Finally, Sheffield recorded their first win since mid-June against Hunslet.
Betfred Championship Round 25 results:
London Broncos 24 Bradford Bulls 34
Toulouse Olympique 46 Batley Bulldogs 22
Featherstone Rovers 28 Oldham 12
Doncaster 0 York Knights 56
Hunslet 6 Sheffield Eagles 46
Halifax Panthers 16 Widnes Vikings 14
The final round fixture list for the Betfred Championship can be found here.
Photo Credit: Halifax Panthers
