Round seventeen of the Kingstone Press Championship was spread over three days this weekend as we continued the race for the top four and a place in the middle eights.

Third placed Batley Bulldogs had a Friday night trip to Sheffield while Halifax had a Saturday evening trip to Whitehaven.

On Sunday top placed Leigh Centurions were at home to fifth placed Featherstone Rovers, second placed London travelled to Swinton, the Bradford Bulls were in Cumbria to play Workington and Dewsbury Rams were up against Oldham.

Friday night saw another loss in a disappointing season for the Eagles. Despite taking the lead on nine through Laulu-Togagae, the Eagles conceded two converted tries through Hirst and Minikin and a Walker penalty to see the Bulldogs with a 14-6 half time lead. Tyson scored Sheffield's second try on forty-six but two more from Rettie and Chandler gave the visitors a 24-10 win to keep them in third spot and in touch with the league leaders.

It was a low scoring encounter at Whitehaven in the Saturday fixture where Halifax made heavy work of grabbing a last minute draw to sneak above Featherstone into the top four. Chamberlain scored on the half hour for the Marras and Jouffret added the conversion. Three minutes after the interval and Holliday added a second, also converted, for a 12-0 lead. On forty-nine Sharp scored for Halifax, and Tyrer converted and just as it looked as though Whitehaven would hold on for their sixth win of the season, Moore scored a last minute try which Tyrer converted for the draw.

Bradford Bulls kept their hopes of atop four finish alive with a hard fought win away at Workington. O'Brien, Ryan and Sidlow scored first half tries for the Bulls but Sammut and Forrester replied for the hosts narrowing the margin to 10-18 at the interval. Sammut grabbed a second after the interval, and when Hulme scored for Workington on fifty-three his side led by 22-18. Clare levelled the scores on sixty-four with an unconverted try and Charnock won the game with a try six from the end which Addy converted. An Addy drop goal three minutes later was the icing on the cake in a 29-22 win.

London had no problems in putting Swinton Lions to the sword with a comprehensive win despite having Naiqama sin-binned. Harrison, Slyney, Offerdahl and Pewhairangi had given the visitors a 24-0 before Robinson pulled one back for Swinton just before the break. Hallet scored the opening second half try for Swinton but Slyney soon added a second, as did Pewhairangi, and Hellewell joined the London party. Lever got a late consolation for the Lions as they lost 42-16.

The closest match of the day was at Leigh Sports Village where fifth placed Featherstone Rovers gave Leigh Centurions a real fright. Kay and Ellis exchanged first half tries, the Kay effort being converted by Burns giving Leigh a slender 6-4 lead at the interval. On fifty-five, Worthington made it 10-4 for the home side but Featherstone kept pressing. Armstrong and Tagg swapped last minute tries and Leigh took the spoils with a final score of 16-12.

Dewsbury Rams dominated their game with Oldham Roughyeds from the outset. Grant, Speakman and Crookes all scored first half tries and with three Sykes conversions and two penalties it was 22-0 at the interval. Uaisele scored the first try of the second half for the home side for 28-0 before Burke scored for Oldham to break their duck. A nineteen minute Kain hat-trick sealed the points for Dewsbury and all that a Chisolm try did for Oldham was give the Roughyeds double figure respectability as they went down by 46-10.

Leigh and London continue their runs to the middle-eights and Batley and Halifax now occupy the other two berths. Bradford are fifth, but if they can win their game in hand over Oldham on Wednesday evening then they will nudge Halifax out of the four. Featherstone's loss pushes them down to sixth, but they are still in the running for a top four finish.