Co-operative Championship Round-up
Featherstone Rovers recorded their first league win of the season following a 36-6 victory over defending Northern Rail Cup champions Batley Bulldogs.
Last season’s Championship Play of the Year Liam Finn was instrumental in the game, scoring 20 points and unlocking the Batley defence twice in the space five minutes to score either side of a try from Rovers Captain Stuart Dickens.
Featherstone continued their good form in the second half, with Bryn Powell, Andrew Bostock and Tommy Saxton all getting their names on the score sheet for the Rovers before Batley finally got off the mark through half-back Gareth Moore in the 75th minute.
Widnes Vikings lost their first game of the season at home to promoted side Hunslet Hawks in a narrow 18-10 contest.
In a low scoring game, it was Hunslet who made the most of their opportunities in the first half, preventing Widnes from getting on the score board while tries from March and Grimshaw gave the away side a 12-0 half time lead.
Widnes looked to have found their attacking spark when Richard Varkulis and Anthony Thackeray both got over the line within 12 minutes of the restart but with the score 12-0, neither side could capitalise on their opportunities.
With the game finely poised, it was Hunslet winger Waine Pryce who dealt the killer blow when his score in the 76th minute put the game beyond the Vikings.
Leigh Centurions maintained their 100 percent record so far this season after they travelled to face Barrow Raiders in the Raiders opening Championship game.
The Raiders got off to a blistering start at Craven Park, scoring three tries inside the opening ten minutes courtesy of Ned Catic, Mark Gleeson and Michael Knowles to open up a 14-0 lead.
Leigh got their first points on the board after 13 minutes through Tyrone McCarthy with Andrew Thornley and Steve Maden also scoring for the visitors but Barrow responded by scoring two further tries in the first half to take a 26-16 lead going into the interval.
The second half saw Leigh complete a remarkable turnaround with Tom Armstrong scoring in the 52nd minute before Stuart Donlan added a quick fire double to take the scores to 32-26 in favour of the visitors.
A further score from Leigh centre Mick Nanyn made it 24 unanswered points before a last minute consolation try from Jamie Rooney left the final score 36-32 to Leigh.
Dewsbury Rams recorded their first win of the league season after a comprehensive 35-6 victory over Toulouse Olympique.
Rams stand-off Dominic Brambani kicked four goals in the opening half to help his side take a 12-0 half time lead before their attack began to fire in the second half with former Castleford Tigers Michael Wainwright scoring an impressive hat-trick of tries.
Danny Nicholls got the only points of the game for Toulouse when he converted his own try in the 57th minute but the final word of the game belonged to Brambani when he scored a drop-goal in the last minute to seal a comfortable win.
Sheffield Eagles recorded their first league victory of this season following their 28-10 victory over York City Knights in front of the Sky Sports cameras.
Sheffield’s Quentin Laulu-Togagae opened the scoring just after the ten minute mark in a close opening half which seen the sides trade scores to go into the half time break with Sheffield holding a narrow 12-10 lead.
Sheffield dominated in the second half, preventing York from scoring any further points while adding three tries of their own through Jason Crookes, Alex Rowe and a second score of the game for winger Danny Mills to seal a comfortable victory.
Championship Results
Featherstone 36 – Batley 6
Widnes 10 – Hunslet 18
Barrow 32 – Leigh 36
Dewsbury 35 – Toulouse 6
York 10 – Sheffield 28
