Round fourteen of the Betfred Championship served up some mouth-watering top of the table clashes which could have gone some way towards clarifying the top four placings come the end of the season and the division into the Super Eights.
Match of the weekend was the Newcastle Magic Weekend curtain-raiser between the Toronto Wolfpack and Toulouse Olypmpique XIII but later on Saturday evening Featherstone and Leigh went head to head as fourth played fifth.
The remaining four games were on Sunday with Halifax against Dewsbury, Swinton against Barrow, London Broncos at home to the Sheffield Eagles and Batley taking on Rochdale.
The Toronto Wolfpack went five points clear at the top with a 43-30 victory in Newcastle.
Featherstone Rovers went ahead through a Walters try on five minutes but Leigh scored four-pointers through Owens, Hood and Crooks. Two conversions and a penalty from Reynolds saw the Centurions 18-4 ahead at the break. Wildie got the first try of the second half for Rovers before Mason and Crooks registered for Leigh. Holmes and Hardcastle made it 20-30 but tries from Hansen and Reynolds in the closing ten minutes eased the Centurions to the 42-20 win and get them within two points of the top four.
Halifax saw the top four slip a little further away as they could only draw 22-22 with the Dewsbury Rams. Dewsbury raced to a 14-0 half time lead thanks to tries from Crowther and Knowles. Laulu-Togagae and Tyrer (2) got the Halifax game underway and edged them ahead by 16-14 before Worrincy regained the lead for the Rams on the hour mark. Barber scored a try, converted by Tyrer, on seventy-three for a 22-20 ‘Fax lead but a seventy-seventh minute penalty heralded the draw.
Swinton Lions and Barrow also drew by the same score line in an exciting end to end game. Fieldhouse put Barrow ahead early before Tyson and Lloyd scored unconverted tries for Swinton before Paisley scored on thirty-nine. The last minute of the half saw a converted Toal but Barrow trailed 14-12 at the interval. Paisley got his second for Swinton before Parata scored for Barrow. When Tyson got his second try for Swinton on seventy-three they had a 22-20 lead but a Dallimore penalty in the dying second levelled the scores to deny Swinton their first win of the season.
Sheffield took the lead against the London Broncos with a try and conversion from Fozard. But once London started scoring on the half hour they couldn’t stop. Williams, Ioane and Gee (2) made it 20-6 at the break. Sammut (2), Davis and Dixon all scored in an eleven minute spell in the second half before a late Sheffield consolation for a final score of 46-12.
The Batley Bulldogs had a battle against Rochdale but managed a 23-14 win to keep their outside hopes of a top four finish alive. Massam had given Rochdale the lead but Brambini and Harrison put Batley 12-4 ahead. Cross scored for Rochdale on twenty-seven but Bretherton got a four-pointer for Batley five minutes later to give the home side an 18-10 lead at the break. Farrell extended the lead on forty-nine and added a drop goal on seventy for a 23-10 lead. Massam got a second for Rochdale in the dying minutes but it was too little and too late.
