Round eighteen of the Betfred Championship was played over Saturday and Sunday with Sheffield facing Featherstone on Saturday afternoon and Toronto playing Barrow later in the evening. The remainder of the games took place on Sunday with London kicking off at 15:00 and the remaining games avoiding a clash with the World Cup football.

The remaining games saw Leigh at Dewsbury, Halifax entertain Batley and Toulouse at basement side Rochdale.

The race for the top four was hotting up faster than the English summer.

Featherstone maintained their spot in the four with a convincing win over the Sheffield Eagles. Thackeray (2), Hardman and Briscoe scored first half tries for a 24-0 half time lead and Hardcastle added two more within eight minutes of the restart for 34-0 before Pick scored the Eagles only try of the game which was converted by Aston. Harman’s second completed the visitors scoring and with him kicking six out of seven conversions it was a simple 40-6 win.

The relentless march of the Toronto Wolfpack into the middle eights couldn’t be halted by a Barrow Raiders side who arrived with just fourteen players. It was all one way traffic as Toronto romped to a 66-0 win. First half tries for Kay, O’Brien, Wallace (2) and Beswick saw the home side 24-0 ahead at the break. Wallace completed his hat-trick in the second half, and with tries from Russell, Sidlow, Rawsthorne (2) and a second from Kay, Barrow had no answer to the Toronto onslaught.

London Broncos maintained their bid for a top four finish with a big win over the Swinton Lions at the Trailfinders. Williams put London ahead before Hankinson and Brown edged the visitors into the lead at 10-4. The London fightback came through Dixon and Cunningham who made it 14-10 before a second from Brown, converted by Hankinson again put the two sides level at 16-16. A Sammut try on the half time hooter sent the home side into the sheds with a narrow six point lead. But the second half was all London. Four pointers from Kear, Pewhairangi, Sammut, Davis, Pitts and Walker put London out of sight at 58-16 before Brown completed his hat-trick for Swinton as a late consolation for a final score of 58-22.

Continuing the trend of wins for the top six sides, Leigh Centurions also maintained their push for the four with a  comprehensive victory over the Dewsbury Rams. Hutchinson, Hood and Hall had given the Centurions a 16-0 lead before Brown scored the Rams only try of the half through Brown. Before the interval there were further tries for Bailey and a second for Hutchinson for 28-6 at the interval. Mortimer, Thompson, Hall and Hansen and Larroyer all added second half tries to accrue a 58-12 win for the Centurions.

Halifax made easy work of Batley thanks to first half tries from Grady, Sharp, Moore and Woodburn-Hall answered only by Brown for the visitors for a lead of 20-6 at the interval. Moore added his second for ‘Fax after the break before Gledhill got on the score card for the Bulldogs. Tries from Murrell, Johnston and Morris completed the scoring and a 50-12 win for the home side.

Making it six out of six for the top six, Toulouse recorded a big win over basement side Rochdale at Spotland. Mika, Ford, Kheirallah, Kriouache, Bouzniac and Bathau all scored in the opening forty for a 30-2 half time lead. A Puech try and two more from Barthau to complete a sixteen minute hat-trick were punctuated by the first home try from Fox. Hatton got Rochdale’s second before Canet and Kriouache made it 58-14. Two tries in the last two minutes from Ader and Kheirallah brought up the seventy for a 70-14 final scoreline.

In a quirk of the fixture arrangers the top six all had games against the bottom six and the top six prevailed. There was no changing of positions and the top four picture had become no clearer as we moved a round closer to the split.