Round eleven of the Kingstone Press Championship got underway on Friday night when the high flying London Broncos visited the Sheffield Eagles. Saturday saw Challenge Cup sixth round participants Oldham Roughyeds travel to Whitehaven, with the rest of the weekends games on Sunday afternoon.
Swinton visited Batley, Bradford started their post-Lowes period as they entertained Workington Town, Featherstone had the job of trying to stop Leigh Centurions return to the top of the table and Halifax had a tough looking game at home to Dewsbury Rams.
London Broncos got off to a great start at Sheffield Eagles. Barthau, Naiqama and Williams had all scored for 16-0 before Blackmore, Yere and Worrincy all scored unconverted tries to got Sheffield back into contention. Garside scored, and Barthau added his second before the interval for a 26-12 lead to the Londoners. Barthau completed his hat-trick on forty-three, Williams added his second, as did Garside and Ackers and Foster both scored making it 56-12 before late converted tries from Aston and Mexico added some late consolation for a final score of 56-24.
Two first half tries for Whitehaven were enough to beat Oldham in a low scoring game at the Recreation Ground. Oldham could only register a single try through Holmes in a 14-6 loss.
Sunday saw a terrific game at the Big Fellas Stadium where Featherstone almost mounted a sensational comeback against Leigh Centurions. An Ellis try, converted by Johnson, and a Johnson penalty established an 8-0 lead for Rovers but Armstrong, Acton, Chase and Smith all scored first half tries, three of them converted by Ridyard for a 22-8 half time lead. Tagg, Taulapapa and Johnson were only answered by a Ridyard penalty and on the hour mark it was 24-24. But Leigh held their nerve and a sixty-fifth minute Kay try and a Ridyard penalty six from time sealed a narrow 30-24 win.
Another win for Swinton, this time over Batley Bulldogs, showed their continued improvement after an awful start to the season. After being 18-6 up at half time Batley put up more of a fight in the second half but the game finished up 32-24 to the visitors.
First half tries from Moore and Potts, answered by a single try from Grant, gave Halifax a 12-8 half time lead over the Dewsbury Rams. Tangata added another Halifax try just after the interval and a Tyrer penalty pushed the lead to 20-8 before Uaisele gave the Rams a chance. But a late penalty stretched the lead to 22-14 before a last minute Murrell drop goal sealed a nine point win.
Bradford Bulls made it back into the top three with a big home victory over struggling Workington. Murphy had opened the scoring for Workington but Addy, Williams, Purtell and Clare all scored for the Bulls before Murphy got a second for Town just before the interval. Leading 22-10 at the interval, the Bulls stepped on the accelerator in the second half with tries from Welham, Caro (2), Williams, Thomas and Ferguson. Workington could only muster one second half try through Murphy and finally went down 52-16. |