The Betfred Championship continued with Round 11 at the weekend.
On Saturday, Newcastle Thunder returned to winning ways after beating Barrow Raiders. Thunder went 20-6 up at half-time with two tries from Jordan Lipp and a score from Brad Ward.
Despite an initial Raiders comeback in the second half, Thunder proved too strong and came out on top in a hard-fought battle.
There was a real dog fight at Heywood Road as Swinton versus Keighley ended in a draw.
The Lions had been leading for 79 minutes, before the Cougars’ last minute try from Oli Whitford dramatically captured a point on the road.
Widnes Vikings returned to the DCBL Stadium in style, scoring 54 unanswered points against Halifax.
Joe Edge and Ryan Ince completed hat-tricks, whilst Jack Owens bagged a brace, including a Try of the Week contender.
Mike Butt and Adam Lawton also added scores, as the Vikings sealed back-to-back wins.
An rejuvenated Hunslet made it three league wins on the bounce at Whitehaven’s Recreation Ground. The visitors scored four first half tries, including one inside the opening minute.
Although it became competitive in the second stanza, Hunslet had already done the damage, having led 24-0 at the break.
A points fest unfolded at the Steel City Stadium – and loanee signing Jordan Abdull produced a dazzling display for the Eagles.
Sheffield were cruising 38-16 after 62 minutes, before Salford started to fight back to reduce the deficit to just two scores.
Both Batley and Dewsbury bounced back with big wins over Goole Vikings and Rochdale Hornets respectively.
The highest score of the round saw Oldham put Workington Town to the sword, with eight different try scorers on Sunday afternoon.
These were Kieran Dixon x2 Riley Dean x3, Ted Chapelhow, Bayley Liu x2, Matty Ashurst, Ewan Moore x2, Luke Forber and Sam Littler.
Finally, London Broncos escaped a late scare away at Doncaster.
The Dons trailed for all of six minutes at the Eco-Power Stadium, but it was enough to be beaten by the current league leaders.
Richard Horne's side were the superiors in the first half in South Yorkshire and deservedly led at the break courtesy of an Edene Gebbie try and two Connor Robinson penalty goals.
Gebbie added another try to complete his brace just after the interval, but the visitors came back late on to win by 14 points and take the two points back to the capital.
After 70 minutes, Reagan Campbell-Gillard stretched out his arm for the line just to the right of the posts and managed to score. Dean Hawkins converted to bring London within four points.
Four minutes later, the away side went in front for the first time of the day as Morea Morea pounced on a loose ball to score on the right, and Hawkins added the extras again.
London kicked on from that point and scored two late tries, first through Hawkins and then Luke Smith, as they remain unbeaten and move two points clear at the top of the table.
Betfred Championship Round 11 results:
Newcastle Thunder 37 Barrow Raiders 22
Swinton Lions 22 Keighley Cougars 22
Widnes Vikings 54 Halifax Panthers 0
Whitehaven RLFC 10 Hunslet RLFC 30
Sheffield Eagles 38 Salford RLFC 26
Batley Bulldogs 46 Goole Vikings 10
Rochdale Hornets 18 Dewsbury Rams 54
Oldham RLFC 74 Workington Town 4
Doncaster RLFC 16 London Broncos 30
The full fixture list for the Betfred Championship can be found here.
Photo Credit: London Broncos
