Round three of the Betfred Championship was spread over three days and started with the Sheffield Eagles visit to Toulouse on Saturday afternoon.
Sunday saw four games with Barrow Raiders looking to build on last weeks draw with Toronto against the Leigh Centurions, Toronto playing against Halifax at The Shay, London Broncos and Featherstone Rovers offering up their one hundred percent records as they competed in the capital, and the Swinton Lions hosting the Batley Bulldogs.
With Rochdale football club needing Scotland for their FA Cup game against Tottenham Hotspur, the Rochdale Hornets would finally get their season underway with a Monday night game against the Dewsbury Rams.
Sheffield Eagles find themselves anchored to the bottom of the table after a third consecutive defeat, this time at the hands of Toulouse Olympique XIII. Sheffield had grabbed the lead on eight minutes at the Stade Ernest Angeles through an Aston try, but they would be kept scoreless for the rest of the game as Toulouse ran in nine unanswered tries for a 50-6 victory. Marcon opened the French sides scoring on twelve but they only took the lead on twenty-nine through Kriouache for an 8-6 lead at the interval. Second half tries for Mika, Sangare (2), Robin, Barthau (2), and Kheirallah, all converted by the final try scorer, saw the home side run away with the game.
London Broncos overwhelmed Featherstone Rovers to go two points clear at the top thanks to a 44-24 victory. Sammut and Cunningham had given London a 12-0 lead before Taulapapa pulled one back for Fev’. A second for Sammut and a try for Walker were replied by Hardcastle, but at 26-10 at the break the Broncos were already on the road to two points. Dixon scored a brace and Sammut completed his hat-trick for 44-10 before late tries from Hardcastle, Briscoe and Lockwood made the score look a little more respectable.
The Batley Bulldogs had a similarly convincing win at the AJ Bell Stadium where they defeated the Swinton Lions by 48-28. Butt had given Swinton the lead early on but Rowe, Reittie, Gledhill and Galbraith scored four tries on seventeen minutes to give Batley a 20-4 lead. Hansen and Hankinson grabbed Lions tries before the break for 20-14 at the turnaround. Ward (2), Day and Scott put the game out of reach before the hour mark, and before Waterworth and Sarsfield could grab consolation tries for Swinton for 28-42. The final Batley try came ten minutes from the final hooter when Leak went over and Walker added his sixth goal of the game.
Halifax held their own for long periods against the Toronto Wolfpack but ultimately succumbed by 20-6.
The extended weekend final game was a Monday night kick off at Spotland in Rochdale. In their first game of the season, following two postponements, the Hornets struggled to find any form and were comprehensively beaten by the Dewsbury Rams. First half tries from Morton, Glover, Worrincy (2), and Brown (2) established a 32-0 interval lead which was extended soon after through Guzdek. Adamson scored Rochdale’s first try of the season just after the ho, the last scoring action in a game which ended 38-6 to the visitors.
