Championship round-up: Halifax on cloud nine, Toulouse dish out capital punishment & York beat Widnes

Owen Lockwood 08 Aug 2021 6:48 PM

Here’s what happened in each of the six Championship ties that took place this weekend…

Featherstone got back to winning ways as they kept in-form Batley scoreless in the second half. Tries from Ben Blackmore, Craig Hall and Frankie Halton meant that the Rovers ran out 28-13 victors at the Fox’s Biscuits Stadium.

Halifax edged Newcastle in a narrow 14-12 victory at The Shay. Ed Barber’s penalty was all that separated the two sides after the Thunder failed to complete a second-half comeback, with Josh Johnson and Ted Chapelhow scoring. The Panthers remain nine games unbeaten and currently sit third in the Championship table.

Toulouse dished out some punishment in the capital as they put London to the sword. Junior Vaivai scored a hat trick of tries whilst Dominique Peyroux, Tony Gigot and Johnathon Ford all grabbed braces.

Further tries from Anthony Marion and Joe Bretherton cemented the french side’s position at the top of the table with a fixture against Halifax next up.

In a bottom of the table clash Swinton drew 22-22 with Oldham. The Roughyeds scoring through Tyler Dupree, Lloyd Roby and James Barran before a late Lions try in the 78th minute from Deane Meadows brought the scores level.

Elsewhere, Dewsbury attempted to stage a second half comeback in their game against Whitehaven but Lachlan Walmsley’s penalty goal made all the difference as the Cumbrain side ran out 20-18 victors leaving the Rams without a win in their last five games.

Doubles from Brendan O’Hagan and Tyme Dow-Nikau helped York to a sound 34-20 victory over Widnes. The Knights now move up to eighth place in the Betfred Championship table before a repeat of the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup final next weekend against Featherstone.

Sheffield’s clash with Bradford was postponed earlier in the week with The Eagles meeting the threshold of at least seven senior players being ruled out due to COVID-19 protocols.