Round Eighteen of the Kingstone Press Championship took place over a weekend of scorching temperatures and threw up some high scoring matches.

On Saturday evening second and third were brought together as London Broncos travelled to Toulouse. Then on Sunday the remaining four matches were played out on Sunday with Featherstone and Swinton having their match postponed until Wednesday after the Rovers Cup involvement.

Batley took on Sheffield, the leaders KR were at home to Dewsbury, Halifax were at Oldham and Rochdale entertained Bradford.

The London Broncos went two points clear in second place with a stunning 36-16 win away at Toulouse Olympique XIII. The Broncos were 16-0 ahead at the break thanks to tries from Ackers, Sammut and Harrison. Walker and Dixon had made it 26-0 to the visitors before Canet scored his first of two for Toulouse to get them off the mark. Dixon added a second for London and Pewhaiangi got his customary try for 36-4 before late tries from Lena and Canet edged the home side into double figures.

Batley Bulldogs thrashed Sheffield Eagles 70-12 with Walker kicking thirteen goals in the process. Reittie (3), Brambini, Scott, Corner all scored first half tries for 38-0 at the interval. Whiteley grabbed a forty-fourth minute first try for the Eagles before Brambini and Farrell both grabbed their seconds of the game for the Bulldogs. Marginet scored Sheffield's second of the game ten from the end before Reittie completed his four try haul and Walker grabbed a second.

Hull KR made no mistakes against the Dewsbury Rams. Shaw (3), Hefernan (2), Salter and Ellis all scored first half tries for a 36-1 half-time lead, after a bizarre eleventh minute Sykes drop goal. Dewsbury scored the first two tries of the second half through Morton and Potts for 36-11 before the Robins second-half onslaught. Tries from Cockayne, Abdull, Cator, Addy and Salter crowned an excellent performance for the home side which puts them within one point of a guarantee of the middle eights.

Halifax kept alive their middle eights hopes with a 30-12 win at Oldham. Sharp and Douglas put them 12-0 up at the interval but Oldham must have thought that the fightback was on early in the second as tries from Turner and Ward, along with a Leatherbarrow penalty squared the game at 12-12 after fifty-seven. 'Fax then took over with tries from Sharp, Moore and Morris edging them to the win.

The Bradford Bulls had their eyes on the zero points level and must have been confident when Bentley and Chapelhow gave them an early 10-0 lead. Two tries from Tiara, punctuated by a Thomas penalty for Bradford saw the Bulls lead by 14-12 at the interval. The second half was all Rochdale with converted Galbraith and Hadded tries sealing the 28-14 win.