Championship round-up: London snatch victory at Widnes, Featherstone continue unbeaten run & Newcastle survive Swinton scare
There were several nail-biting clashes in round 10 of the Championship.
Toulouse were not involved in one of those matches after running in 10 tries during a convincing display away at Dewsbury.
A Jy Hitchcox hat-trick and braces from Mathieu Jussaume and Eloi Pelissier helped Sylvain Houles’ men run out 56-12 winners at the Tetley’s Stadium.
Featherstone continued their unbeaten run as they defeated Bradford 44-0 to claim the Peter Fox Memorial Trophy.
Eight different players crossed for Rovers as the third-placed Bulls were handed their first league defeat since the opening weekend.
Batley were made to work hard by Whitehaven before eventually managing to extend their strong start to the season with a 24-20 win at the Recreation Ground.
Trailing 16-6 at half-time, the Bulldogs scored three tries in the space of nine second half minutes to turn the game on its head before the hour mark. Luke Hooley also helped his side to victory with four conversions from four.
Titus Gwaze’s 77th minute try was enough for London Broncos to steal victory from Widnes’ grasp after a topsy-turvy affair.
The Vikings led 14-6 and 22-18 at different stages of the contest, but Gwaze’s late contribution was enough for the Broncos to run out winners and move up to fifth in the table.
Elsewhere, Halifax recorded their fourth win in five as they eased past York 30-6.
A Matty Marsh try to make it 10-6 just after half-time was as good as it goes for the Knights, with the hosts running in further scores through Nick Rawsthorne, Brandon Moore, James Saltonstall and Adam Tangata.
Sheffield kicked off the round with a dramatic 32-28 victory over Oldham, who mounted a late comeback at Bower Fold but ran out of time to rescue something for their efforts.
Experienced winger Rob Worrincy scored a hat-trick as the Eagles bounced back to winning ways with a hard-fought display, made harder by Tyler Dickinson’s red card 13 minutes from time for a late hit on Lewis Charnock.
Finally, Newcastle added to Swinton’s woes with a dramatic 36-30 victory at Heywood Road.
With all the try-scoring completed before the hour mark, including 30 unanswered points for the visitors in the first half, it still took a 64th minute Matty Wright penalty to stretch Thunder’s lead to six. After staging a valiant comeback, the home side had the chance to rescue something from the game in the final moments, only to knock on when stretching out for the line.
Championship round 10 results:
Halifax Panthers 30-6 York City Knights
Dewsbury Rams 12-56 Toulouse Olympique
Swinton Lions 30-36 Newcastle Thunder
Whitehaven 20-24 Batley Bulldogs
Widnes Vikings 22-24 London Broncos
Featherstone Rovers x-x Bradford Bulls
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