With the game between Swinton Lions and the Rochdale Hornets falling foul of the weather, the five remaining fixtures all took place on Sunday afternoon.
The two newly promoted sides, Barrow and Toronto, met in Cumbria while Championship favourites Leigh had a home game against Batley Bulldogs. London Broncos were looking for their second win away at Dewsbury Rams and Featherstone Rovers looked to keep their one hundred percent record intact at home against Toulouse Olympique XIII.
The fifth game saw Halifax and Sheffield Eagles both looking for their first points of the season as they met at the New Shay.
London kept their top spot in the Championship with a hard fought win at the Dewsbury Rams. Battye scored a first half try, converted by Sammut, for a 6-0 interval lead and Sammut scored a four pointer himself with ten minutes remaining. The points were in the bag when London kicked a last minute penalty for a 12-0 victory.
Featherstone Rovers hold the only other one hundred percent record after recording a big win over French side Toulouse. The visitors had taken the lead through a Marcon try converted by Kheirallah after an early Ridyard penalty put Fev’ 2-0 up. Briscoe scored for Rovers on the half hour but Curran added a second just before the break and Marcon got his second just after to give Toulouse a 14-8 lead. Featherstone then kicked into gear with tries from Thackeray (2), Clark, Davies and a second for Briscoe to go 36-14 ahead before a late consolation from Marguerite narrowed the winning margin to eighteen points.
Leigh got their first two points of the season as they romped to victory over the Batley Bulldogs. Crooks (2), and Mason gave them an 18-0 lead, thanks to three Reynolds conversions, before Rowe saved Batley blushed on the half time hooter with a try concerted by Walker. Second half tries for Larroyer, Dawson and Acton sealed a 34-6 win to get the Centurions season off and running.
Halifax grabbed their first two points with a 30-10 win over the Sheffield Eagles. Murray opened the scoring in the second minute but on thirteen Ashworth levelled the scores for the visitors. Woodburn-Hall made it 12-6 on eighteen minutes and that is how it stayed until the interval. A Barber try just after the restart pushed ‘Fax further ahead before James grabbed a second for the Eagles. Sheffield couldn’t get back into the game and tries from Murray and Fleming in the closing stages ensured a big 30-10 win for the home side.
Barrow Raiders ripped up the form book and secured an excellent 8-8 draw with Toronto Wolfpack, indicating that they might not have things all their own way in 2018.
