Betfred Championship Tournament | Round 11

Round 11 of the Betfred Championship produced an interesting set of results as the race for the play-offs intensifies…

Toulouse made it five wins in a row with a 52-0 thrashing of Doncaster on Saturday, while Halifax produced an incredible comeback in Cumbria against Barrow.

It was a vibrant contest as Liam Finn’s Panthers overturned a 28-12 deficit with a superb second half performance.

The comeback began with a five minute brace from James Saltonstall before James Woodburn-Hall powered over the try line. Then, with five minutes to go, a resilient ‘Fax came up with two quick tries from Zack McComb and Joe Keyes to secure a memorable win in emphatic fashion.

Sunday’s action saw a number of extremely close contests as Batley, Sheffield and Wakefield all recorded close wins over their opponents.

Batley and Wakefield traveled across the Pennines to face Swinton and Widnes respectively. The Bulldogs’ recent resurgence continued – coming from behind to beat a tough Lions outfit and keeping Alan Kilshaw’s side scoreless in the second half.

Jayden Hatton and Rhys Williams were Swinton’s two try scorers on the afternoon, with Joe Burton, Alistair Leak and Dane Manning’s match winner scoring for Batley. This win for Batley now sees them sit just two points outside the top six and is their third win in a row.

It was a gutsy encounter between Widnes and Wakefield at the DCBL Stadium, with the Vikings falling to their first home defeat of the season.

The valiant Vikings rallied late, but the undefeated league leaders would prove too strong.

It was Allan Coleman’s men who struck first though, and that was through Joe Lyons, who headed over with the dummy, but Wakefield quickly hit back through Derrell Olpherts in the corner.

A missed conversion meant the hosts held a narrow 6-4 lead at half-time, but a flurry of three Wakefield tries early in the second half gave Widnes too much to work with despite two late tries of their own.

At Olympic Legacy Park, Sheffield got back to winning ways with a dramatic win over Featherstone. Kris Welham scored an incredible match-winner in the 77th minute for the home side – picking up a loose ball and running 30 yards to score under the posts.

This moves the Eagles up to second in the table, while Rovers are consigned to a third straight defeat.

Elsewhere, Bradford were triumphant away at Whitehaven and the York Knights recorded their biggest Championship win of the season against a struggling Dewsbury and their first win under new head coach Mark Applegarth.

The Knights now sit on eight points in the league, along with four other teams in the competition from 9th to 12th, which is just four points off a Play-Off place – as the 2024 Betfred Championship proves to be one of the most competitive and closer. seasons yet.

Betfred Championship round 11 results:

Toulouse Olympique XIII 52 Doncaster RLFC 0

Barrow Raiders 28 Halifax Panthers 38

Sheffield Eagles 18 Featherstone Rovers 16

Whitehaven RLFC 18 Bradford Bulls 36

Swinton Lions 16 Batley Bulldogs 20

Widnes Vikings 18 Wakefield Trinity 20

Dewsbury Rams 0 York Knights 40

The full fixture list for the Betfred Championship and all relevant information and kick-off times can be found Here.