It was another COVID restricted round in the Betfred Championship as the games between the London Broncos and Widnes Vikings and Toulouse Olympique XIII and Dewsbury fell victim.
The remaining five games were all played on Sunday afternoon with the match of the day being the top of the table clash at Odsal between the Bradford Bulls and Featherstone Rovers.
Elsewhere, Sheffield took on high flying Halifax in the early kick-off, while Batley welcomed Newcastle, Whitehaven played hosts to Oldham and poor Swinton had a trip to York to face the City Knights.
Sheffield put up a good fight against the Halifax Panthers but in the end, they were simply prey for the big cats who are having a great run of good form. Millar and Fairbank exchanged early tries, as did Tangata and Thackeray with McGrath grabbing a try at the end of the first half to put the Panthers into the sheds with a 16-12 lead. Millar’s second the Eagles right back in it, but Fairbank edged Halifax back ahead only to be reigned back in by Brown. At 28-22 it looked like an upset might be on the card but two further tries from Tangata to complete his hat-trick, and a Harris try on the final hooter only saw a single response from Millar for the Eagles and the Panthers had a 40-28 win.
The Bradford Bulls and Featherstone Rovers fought out a thrilling encounter at Odsal which saw the visitors take a hard won 36-30 win. Full report here.
It was a close encounter between Whitehaven and Oldham with ‘Haven eventually emerging as 28-24 winners. Hewitt had put Oldham in front on the quarter hour before a try for Bulman and two for Phillips gave ‘Haven a 16-6 lead. Abram responded with a converted try on thirty-five for Oldham to trail by four at the interval but Dupree and Nelmes both scored in the first ten minutes of the second half for a 24-16 away lead. Whitehaven then steadied the ship and thanks to tries from Jouffret and Wilkinson either side of the hour mark it was the home side who took the lead and held it until the final hooter.
Batley Bulldogs did it easy against Newcastle Thunder. Blagbrough, Kaye, Flynn and Walshaw had all crossed the whitewash for Batley before Ta’ai got Newcastles first just before the interval. McAvoy’s try just after the restart gave Thunder some hope but that was soon snuffed out as Buchanan, Edwards and White all went in for four pointers and a 42-12 win.
It was also a one sides affair between York and Swinton as the league’s bottom side registered yet another defeat. Clarkson, Kieran Dixon and Ronan Dixon all scored inside eleven minutes for the home side for 16-0 and they never looked back. Heyes got Swinton on the card on twenty-two but a try from Kirmond made it 22-4 at the break. Meadows got Oldham into double figures on fifty but Marsh (2), Dow-Nikau and Dixon added four more unanswered second half tries for a final score of 46-10.
