Round 13 of the Betfred Championship got underway on Friday evening as Newcastle Thunder hosted Bradford Bulls at Kingston Park, in a fixture which was shown live on Viaplay Sports.
The Bulls dominated much of the contest and went into half-time with a 16-0 lead. David Foggin-Johnson, Tom Holmes and Jordan Baldwinson were all on the scoresheet.
Thunder scored early in the second half through Nikau Williams, however, this was quickly cancelled out by a Keven Appo try.
Denive Balmforth scored his third try in two weeks for Newcastle, but it was Bradford who had the final say through a Kieran Gill try.
On Saturday, Halifax Panthers suffered a narrow defeat away at Toulouse.
The French side started strongly with two tries inside the opening ten minutes. Halifax fought back after tries from Zack McComb and Kyle Wood. Panthers captain, Brandon Moore crossed for Halifax’s third try of the match to send them to half-time with an 18-10 advantage.
Pierre-Jean Lima and Maxime Stefani hit back for Toulouse, before a Lachlan Walmsley try levelled the scores on the hour mark. Guy Armitage scored his second of the afternoon, as Toulouse held on.
Featherstone remain top of the table with a 100% record after a dominant home victory over Barrow Raiders.
Rovers had ten different scorers for their 11 tries. Connor Jones was the player who scored twice during the 64-6 victory for Featherstone.
Batley Bulldogs sit third after a closely fought victory over York Knights.
James Glover opened the scoring for the Knights, before an Elliot Kear try levelled the scores at the break.
Both sides traded a try each with the Bulldogs taking a 10-8 lead into the final quarter. Dale Morton scored a late try, which saw Batley win a fifth Betfred Championship match in a row.
Joey Romeo scored four tries as Swinton Lions defeated Keighley Cougars at Cougar Park.
Swinton raced into a 30-12 after 44 minutes, before Keighley fought back as a late try left the score at 32-28 in favour of the visitors.
Whitehaven produced a strong away performance to defeat second place Sheffield Eagles.
Bailey Liu opened the scoring for Sheffield, before Curtis Teare scored shortly after for Whitehaven.
Whitehaven lead 24-14 at half-time and the visitors extended their lead to 34-14 after 54 minutes.
Sheffield tried to salvage the match, bringing the score to 34-26, however, Haven added a try five minutes from the end to seal the win.
London Broncos progression continued with an away win at Widnes.
Widnes had a two point advantage with 15 minutes remaining, however, tries from Iliess Macani and Dean Whare saw London return to the capital with the points.
Results
- Newcastle Thunder 12-28 Bradford Bulls
- Toulouse 28-22 Halifax Panthers
- Sheffield Eagles 26-40 Whitehaven
- Featherstone Rovers 64-6 Barrow Raiders
- Keighley Cougars 28-32 Swinton Lions
- Widnes Vikings 18-26 London Broncos
- Batley Bulldogs 14-8 York Knights
