Round 11 of the Betfred Championship produced a set of interesting results as the race for the Play-Offs intensifies…
Toulouse made it five consecutive wins with a 52-0 nilling over Doncaster on Saturday, while Halifax produced an incredible comeback in Cumbria against Barrow.
It was a pulsating contest as Liam Finn’s Panthers managed to overturn a 28-12 deficit with a superb second half performance.
The comeback started with a five-minute brace from James Saltonstall before James Woodburn-Hall powered his way over the try-line. Then, five minutes from time, a resilient ‘Fax came up with two quick-fire tries from Zack McComb and Joe Keyes to secure a memorable win in emphatic fashion.
Sunday’s action saw a series of extremely close contests, as Batley, Sheffield, and Wakefield all recorded tight wins over their opponents.
Batley and Wakefield travelled across the Pennines to face Swinton and Widnes respectively. The Bulldogs’ recent resurgence continued – coming from behind to beat a tough Lions outfit and keeping Alan Kilshaw’s side scoreless in the second half.
Jayden Hatton and Rhys Williams were Swinton’s two try-scorers of the afternoon, with Joe Burton, Alistair Leak, and Dane Manning’s match-winner the scorers for Batley. This victory for Batley now sees them sit just two points outside the top six and is their third win in a row.
It was a gutsy encounter between Widnes and Wakefield at the DCBL Stadium, with the Vikings falling to their first home defeat of the season.
The valiant Vikings rallied late on, but the unbeaten league leaders would prove too strong.
Allan Coleman’s men did strike first however, and this was through Joe Lyons who went over with the dummy, but Wakefield soon hit back through Derrell Olpherts in the corner.
A missed conversion meant that the hosts had a narrow 6-4 lead at the break, but a flurry of three Wakefield tries at the start of the second half gave Widnes too much work to do, despite two late tries of their own.
Over at the Olympic Legacy Park, Sheffield returned to winning ways with a dramatic victory over Featherstone. Kris Welham scored an incredible 77th minute match-winner for the home side – scooping up a loose ball and racing 30 metres to score under the posts.
This sees the Eagles move up to second in the table, while the Rovers are consigned to a third straight defeat.
Elsewhere, Bradford were triumphant away at Whitehaven and York Knights recorded their biggest Championship victory of the season against a struggling Dewsbury, and their first win under the new tenure of head coach Mark Applegarth.
The Knights now find themselves on eight league points along with four other teams in the competition from 9th to 12th place, which is just four points adrift from a Play-Off place – as the 2024 Betfred Championship is proving one of the most competitive and closest seasons yet.
Betfred Championship Round 11 results:
Toulouse Olympique XIII 52 Doncaster RLFC 0
Barrow Raiders 28 Halifax Panthers 38
Sheffield Eagles 18 Featherstone Rovers 16
Whitehaven RLFC 18 Bradford Bulls 36
Swinton Lions 16 Batley Bulldogs 20
Widnes Vikings 18 Wakefield Trinity 20
Dewsbury Rams 0 York Knights 40
The full fixture list for the Betfred Championship and all of the relevant information and kick-off times can be found here.
