In round six of the Betfred Championship all eyes were on a Saturday evening in the south of France where the Toronto Wolfpack were in town to upset Toulouse Olympique XIII in the game of the round.
The remaining fixtures all took place on Sunday with Widnes still looking to make up a negative deficit on the road to Barrow, the Bulls away at Batley, Featherstone hosting the soaring Eagles as they looked to return to the top of the table, Halifax welcoming the Dewsbury Rams and Leigh at pointless Swinton.
Toronto got off to the perfect start as they answered Parata’s opening try for Toulouse with a tries from Wallace, Beswick and Leutele for a 16-6 lead at the break but the second half it was one-way scoring traffic for the French side. Robin got two converted tries within ten minutes of the restart to give the home side the lead but Marguerite, Curran and a brace from an inspirational Kheirallah saw Toulouse cruise to a 46-16 win to get them within two ladder points of their opponents.
The Eagles failed in their bid to return to the top as they crashed back to earth with their first defeat of the season at Featherstone. Lockwood and Turner gave Rovers a 10-0 lead before Millar pulled one back for the visitors. Golding extended the home lead to 16-4 but a Farrell try and Walker goal reduced the arrears to 16-10 at the break, despite Broadbent being sent off three minutes from the interval. Millar got Sheffield back within two on fifty-two but the extra man made the difference late on as Bussey, Turner and Davies all scored four-pointers for a 32-14 win.
A tight first half in Barrow ended with the home side nursing a 4-0 lead thanks to two Dallimore penalty goals as the Vikings failed to make any pressure on the Cumbrians line result in points. The second half was all Widnes with Craven, Walker, Ince and Cahill all scoring tries in a 20-4 win.
Dewsbury Rams had the ignominy of being nilled by a ruthless Halifax but they kept them down to Barber and Robinsons first half tries for 14-0. Barber scored two more in the second half for 26-0 to put ‘Fax level on points with second placed Sheffield, York and Toulouse.
It was a battle royal at Batley with the Bradford Bulls eventually emerging victorious to maintain their decent start to the season. Ryan opened the Bulls scoring on twenty-one and was followed over by Oakes eight minutes later. Kirk completed the first half scoring for the Bulls and saw them with a 16-0 lead at the break. Despite Yates grabbing a converted try twelve minutes from time, the Bulldogs went down by 6-16.
Leigh Centurions were never really in any danger on their trip to pointless Swinton. Marsh, Hood, McNally and Costello established a 20-0 half time lead before Ashton grabbed the first try of the second half for the home side. Adamson made it 26-6 before Ashton’s second put the Lions into double figures. The final scoring action of the game was through Marsh, with his second, for a final score line of 30-12.
