A busy Jubilee weekend for the Betfred Championship as round fourteen followed within a few days of an action packed round thirteen with twelve of our sides in action on Sunday afternoon, the remaining game between leaders Featherstone Rovers and the Bradford Bulls being scheduled for Monday night in front of the Premier Sports cameras.

Sunday´s games saw Barrow host Widnes, Batley at home to Workington, and Dewsbury face the remaining Cumbrian side as thew welcomed Whitehaven.

Leigh had a tough looking home game against Halifax while the Eagles travelled up the A1 to face Newcastle leaving a long trip up the M1 for London as they went to York.

Five places and ten points separated Wakefield Trinity and Hull FC coming into today’s game and with neither side able to improve their league positions with a win, they were both looking for the points for very different reasons.

Hull FC were looking to cement their place in the top six and pull further away from their Red and White neighbours in seventh spot while Wakefield were looking to make up two points on the Warrington Wolves ahead of them and put another two points between themselves and the relegation spot currently occupied by Toulouse Olympique XIII.

The home side had a six-point start on the handicap, Hull FC the favourites for the win.

Fresh from lifting their twentieth Challenge Cup last weekend in London, the Wigan Warriors travelled to Castleford to take on the Tigers in the knowledge that a big win would see them move above both Huddersfield and Catalans into second spot, and a win of any description would see them up to third.

Lee Radford´s Tigers side were looking to consolidate their position in the top six and put some breathing space between themselves and Hull KR in seventh, however, a heavy loss could see them drop into the bottom half of the table on points difference.

Wigan moved Jai Field into the halves in place of the injured Cade Cust and John Bateman and Morgan Smithies were also missing from the side which triumphed last week.

The home side were without the services of Mamo, Qareqare and Blair but could still field a decent seventeen.

Normally a fixture associated with the play-off places, it was eighth against tenth as the Warrington Wolves hosted the Leeds Rhinos in an important game in the bottom half of the table as both sides looked to maintain a place on the fringes of the top six, the home side knowing that a win would lift them to at least seventh and the Rhinos looking to jump above their hosts into eighth.

Daryl Powell´s Wolves had new loan signing Kyle Amor on the bench in a strong looking line up after almost a fortnight off, while Leeds boss Rohan Smith made an enforced change to an equally rested side which beat Wakefield last time out to accommodate the most recent suspension of James Bentley.

Warrington were the favourites with the bookies, the Rhinos getting an eight-point start on the handicap coupon.

Round Thirteen of the 2022 Betfred Championship was mostly scheduled for the bank holiday Thursday afternoon as the nation celebrated the Royal Platinum Jubilee with a trip to the rugby.

Halifax and Dewsbury had already played on Tuesday evening before the early Thursday kick off saw a basement battle between London and Workington.

The remaining five games were all scheduled to kick off at three o´clock with Barrow at home to Leigh, Newcastle facing Featherstone, Sheffield hosting York and Widnes at home to the Bradford Bulls.

A slight delay meant that Whitehaven and Batley kicked off fifteen minutes late.

Fresh from their stunning AB Sundecks 1895 Trophy win over the Featherstone Rovers, Leigh Centurions travelled up the M6 in a ´jubilant´ mood with the aim of taking two points off an impressive Barrow Raiders side who are still in the top half of the table as the season mid-stage approaches.

The Centurions made several changes from the side which triumphed at the Tottenham Stadium with Brand, Roberts, Hitchcox, Hingano, Amone, Ipape, Nakubuwai, and O´Donnell all named in the starting thirteen.

Barrow too were forced into a handful of changes due to injuries.

Leigh needed a win to have the chance of going top, but more likely maintaining the pressure on Featherstone, while a win for Leigh could lift them into fifth spot should Whitehaven beat the Batley Bulldogs.

The odds were on a Leigh win.

 

London Broncos travelled from Plough Lane in Wimbledon to Derwent Park in Workington in a bid to get their season on track and move out of the bottom two in the Betfred Championship against bottom placed club Workington Town, who were themselves seeking to get their own season underway with a first win.

The hosts' coach Chris Thorman refused to underplay the importance of the game for the side promoted from League 1 last year, but insisted the main thing he was looking for was consistency and performance against the team just above them with a record of one win and one draw.

Too close to call was the opinion of most pundits as the two sides, neck and neck in the Super League, Wigan Warriors and Huddersfield Giants went head-to-head at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the Challenge Cup Final The two sides last met in a Challenge Cup final in the 1919-20 season when it was Huddersfield who emerged as 21-10 victors in a game played in front of 14,000 fans at Headingley in Leeds.

Wigan have lifted the trophy on nineteen occasions, Huddersfield seven times, Wigan´s last win in 2013 but there would be few from West Yorkshire who had witnessed a Huddersfield cup win as they hadn´t lifted the trophy for sixty-nine years.

The bookies had made the Warriors slight favourites but most in the stadium had no idea what the next eighty minutes would deliver.

The AB Sundecks 1895 Final between Featherstone Rovers and Leigh Centurions was so much more than a curtain raiser for the Betfred Challenge Cup Final which would take place later in the afternoon at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, it was a battle between the top two sides in the Championship and the result would reverberate much further than this one sunny Saturday afternoon out in the big smoke.

It was a battle of two experienced coaches with neither Adrian Lam nor Brian McDermott strangers to major finals, McDermott with the upper hand and a record of six major finals wins as a player, and seven as a coach.

This was the first time in its three-year history that Leigh have made it to the final, but they were facing a Featherstone side who were defending the Trophy which they picked up last season thanks to their 41-34 win over the York City Knights.

 

Round Twelve of the 2022 Betfred Championship was brought to a close by a Monday evening televised fixture between the Sheffield Eagles and Widnes Vikings with both sides fully aware that they are rapidly losing touch with the top half of the table and with it any hope of a play-off place.

It was a historic night for the Eagles as they made a welcome return to the Olympic Legacy Park after the lengthy reconstruction project overran, the ground now with what will eventually be an increased capacity of 3,900.

The bookies went with the home side and gave the visitors a six-point start on the handicap coupon, but this really was anyone’s game, the side who turned up on the night would take the point and draw level with the Bradford Bulls in seventh spot.

Round Twelve of the 2022 Betfred Championship was held over three days from Saturday to Monday with Featherstone playing Whitehaven, and Bradford at home to Newcastle, on Saturday early evening.

Sunday afternoon had four games which comprised York against Halifax, Batley against an embattled London, Leigh against Workington and Dewsbury at home to Barrow.

The remaining fixture will be played on Monday night in front of the Premier Sports cameras as Sheffield Eagles face the Widnes Vikings.

Third took on fourth in the Betfred Championship as the York City Knights hosted the Halifax Panthers in a crucial Round Twelve encounter as the home side looked to keep in touch with the top two and the Panthers looked to avoid a slip to sixth place in the table as mid-season approaches.

The Knights have won their last seven games with the Panthers having won their last six, something would have to give in what promised to be a close game between two for sides.

Halifax had been given a six-point start on the handicap coupon, but the bookies and pundits were expecting a close game between two evenly matched sides who should both make the end of season play-offs, if not be in with a real chance of promotion to Super League.

Super League returned to free-to-air television on Saturday lunchtime as Hull KR welcomed second-placed Catalan Dragons to Craven Park in front of the Channel 4 cameras.

KR entered the game having not lost at home since early March - the question was whether they could maintain that record against last year's Grand Finallists.

They had the perfect start when Ben Crooks outjumped two Catalan defenders to collect a Shaun Keny-Dowall kick on the try line and had to just fall over the line to score by posts.

Full-back Lachlan Coote had no difficulty converting that from in front of goal and the hosts led 6-0.

Both the Leeds Rhinos and Wakefield Trinity came into tonight’s game at Emerald Headingley knowing that it was a must win game at the bottom of the table with both sides looking to put some daylight between themselves and Toulouse Olympique XIII in the relegation spot.

Wakefield have lost their last six outings including last weekends humiliating loss to Toulouse, while the Rhinos returned to losing ways last time out against Salford after picking up wins in the two previous rounds.

Trinity were given an eight point start on the coupon, the Rhinos expected to bring home the points which could lift them up to ninth, should Salford lose their game against the Castleford Tigers.

Salford Red Devils opened their 2022 campaign with a 26-16 win over tonight's opponents Castleford at their Jungle ground, and had hopes of repeating that performance tonight.

The visitors had a dreadful start to the season: the loss to Salford started a run which saw them win just one of their opening half-dozen games.

But they overcame that and won five of the following six leading up to this match.

Their hosts have won fewer games, but have shown their ability in every round so far.

And their winger Ken Sio is the top try scorer in Super League at the half-way point of the season.

It would be lucky round thirteen for either the Warrington Wolves or St Helens, but the smart money was on St Helens extending their lead at the top of the table against a Warrington side who are struggling for any kind of consistency as new coach Daryl Powell continues to find his feet.

The visitors were unchanged from the side which beat Hull FC last time out while the Wolves welcomed back Gareth Widdop to the side who were thrashed by the Catalans Dragons in the south of France in the last round.

The home side had an eight-point start on the handicap coupon, but many pundits thought that the margin would be somewhat higher than that.

The Rugby Football League have paid tribute to Maurice Lindsay, whose death at the age of 81 has been announced by Wigan Warriors this morning.

Lindsay, a bookmaker by trade, was a leading force at Wigan RL during their most successful era in the British game when they establilshed themselves as the most feared side in the game.

During his tenure Wigan win eight Championships in a ten year period and nine Challenge Cups including the famous eight in a row between 1988 and 1995.

He left the club for a while to become Chief Executive of the Rugby Football League and proposed the start of the Super League and the switch to the summer schedule, the beginning of what many see as the start of the modern game.

It was fifth v second when Batley Bulldogs welcomed Leigh Centurions to slope at The Foxes Biscuits Stadium as round 11 of the Betfred Championship concluded in front of the Premier Sports cameras.

The Bulldogs entered the match unbeaten in their last five games, having drawn one game when they became the only team in the league to take a point off Featherstone back in March.

Leigh's only loss in the  past six weeks was to Super League club Hull KR in the sixth round of the Challenge Cup.

Leigh kicked off down the hill while the hosts had first use of the ball - faced with the challenge of carring it 100m up the field and up nine feet in altitude in the first half.

The Bulldogs were the first to make a mistake though, when Johnny Campbell knocked on trying to collect a high kick in the corner.

With London Broncos facing the Newcastle Thunder on Friday night and the Batley Bulldogs hosting Leigh Centurions in the Premier Sports televised game on Monday, there were five Betfred Championship fixtures played out on Sunday afternoon, all with traditional three o´clock kick-offs.

There was a Cumbria derby between Barrow and Workington while the third side from the northwest, Whitehaven, made the trip south to Widnes to face the Vikings.

Halifax Panthers were at home to the Sheffield Eagles and there was a West Yorkshire derby between Dewsbury and Featherstone, while the Bradford Bulls completed the rounds fixtures with a home game against the York City Knights.

Ninth faced tenth at the AJ Bell Stadium as the Salford Red Devils played hosts to a Leeds Rhinos side under their new coach, Rohan Smith, for the first time and boasting the return of several first team players after their injury lay-offs as they looked to register their third consecutive victory.

Paul Rowley’s side were looking to spoil the Rhinos party with a win which would lift them above their opponents as the scramble away from the bottom spot continued for both sides, with the bookies struggling to separate the sides, having made the Rhinos slight favourites.