Current league leaders London Broncos broke records on Saturday, with a colossal score-line against North Wales Crusaders in Round 5 of the Betfred Championship.
The Broncos came out all guns blazing and racked up eighteen tries against their opponents as a truly incredible points fest unfolded at the Cherry Red Records Stadium.
It was a tough trip for the Crusaders, with their only reply coming via a Greg Eden hat-trick.
And it was a night to remember for James Meadows, who converted all but one of the hosts’ tries and produced a bumper haul of 42 individual points – the most of any player in London Broncos history.
There were plenty of points scored in Sunday’s action too.
Batley Bulldogs returned to winning ways with a huge victory over Swinton Lions. There were seven different try scorers for the Bulldogs, including Derrell Olpherts who completed a hat-trick, whilst Alistair Leak crossed for two.
Doncaster recorded a comfortable victory over Salford, making it back-to-back league wins.
The Dons were in firm control and held a 44-point advantage at the break following a flurry of tries from Connor Robinson, Cory Aston and Luis Johnson, as well as a first half hat-trick from Edene Gebbie.
They picked up from where they left off in the second stanza as a Tom Holmes brace and further tries from Connor Jones, Aston, Gebbie and Muizz Mustapha gave the Dons a big win.
Widnes were winners in the battle of the Vikings, as they picked up their fourth successive league victory.
Allan Coleman’s side ran in ten tries from seven different scorers on a comfortable afternoon that saw them move up to second in the table.
Matt Fleming and Dan Murray starred with a hat-trick and brace respectively.
It was a much tighter contest at the home of Hunslet as they fell just short to Sheffield Eagles.
After a closely fought encounter, it took until the 77th minute for the Eagles to make the pressure pay. With three minutes to go, Corey Johnson put the result beyond doubt, scoring Sheffield’s fifth of the game and securing the win.
Oldham put on a strong display over Midlands Hurricanes as they raced into a 26-0 lead in as many minutes.
Midlands managed to reduce the deficit to 12 points before Oldham reasserted their dominance control and put the game to bed with late tries from Tom Nisbet and Ben Davies.
It was a memorable day for Whitehaven who finally go off the mark with their first win of the season. They nilled Rochdale Hornets on home soil.
Over at Cougar Park, there was a deserved draw between Keighley and Workington Town – and the first draw of 2026.
A penalty for the Cougars in the closing stages levelled things up, as both sides held on through a nervy and nail-biting finish to take a point each.
Betfred Championship Round 5 results:
London Broncos 106 North Wales Crusaders 18
Batley Bulldogs 54 Swinton Lions 6
Doncaster RLFC 78 Salford RLFC 8
Hunslet RLFC 16 Sheffield Eagles 24
Keighley Cougars 16 Workington Town 16
Midlands Hurricanes 20 Oldham RLFC 40
Whitehaven RLFC 20 Rochdale Hornets 0
Widnes Vikings 54 Goole Vikings 24
The full fixture list for the Betfred Championship can be found here.
Photo Credit: London Broncos
