There were six games scheduled for round seven of the Betfred Championship after the game between the Dewsbury Rams and Batley Bulldogs was postponed until sometime in July.
Swinton travelled to play Toulouse on Saturday afternoon, a prospect which they cannot have been relishing while all of the other games took place on Sunday, the majority with three o’clock kick-offs.
York were at home to Oldham, Widnes to Whitehaven, Newcastle hosted Halifax and Bradford made the trip to London while the late kick off was between the Sheffield Eagles and Featherstone Rovers.
Despite Casty and Marion opening the scoring for Toulouse within the opening seven minutes Swinton struck back heroically through Gregson and Hansen for a 12-10 lead after fifteen minutes. Jassaume and Schaumkel scored two more Olympique tries within a two-minute spell but again Swinton responded to level the scores at 18-18, but then Toulouse found a different gear…. or three. Bretherton got the home sides fourth before the interval for 24-18 but it was all one-way traffic in the second half. Garbutt, Pelissier, Kheirallah, Schaumkel (2), Peyroux and Ford all contributed to a twelve try haul as Toulouse maintained their unbeaten start to the season with a 66-18 win.
Halifax Panthers had a perfect day at the office as they ran in thirty-two unanswered points to nil their hosts Newcastle Thunder. Woodburn-Hall (2) and Rawsthorne scored in the first half for a 22-0 lead and when Barber and Bourouh scored within fifteen minutes of the restart the visitors could put the cue on the rack and cruise to a comfortable 32-0 win.
York and Oldham were deadlocked at six apiece at half time after a Jubb try cancelled out the opener from Oldham’s Pick. But the second half belonged to York as Oldham didn’t get a look in. Dixon, Dean, Marsh, Clarkson and Jubb with his second of the game saw a procession of tries for a runaway 34-6 victory.
It was a slow start for the Vikings with tries from O’Neill and Lawton giving them a 14-0 lead over Whitehaven at the interval. Things speeded up in the second half when Craven grabbed a two-minute brace for 26-0 before Bradley crossed for the first, and only, ‘Haven try of the afternoon. Tilleke, Owens and a second for Lawton completed the Widnes scoring for an emphatic 44-6 victory.
It should have been a far tougher task for the Bradford Bulls as they visited the London Broncos, but in the end they won very comfortably as both sides had two player sin-binned. Curran gave the Broncos a lead as early as the sixth minute but it would be their only try of the game as they had no response to the Bradford attack. Murphy, Doyle and Pickersill scored three first-half tries and Brough kicked a drop goal for the Bulls for a 19-8 lead at the interval. Robson added two further Bulls tries in the second half to give the visiting side a far too comfortable 33-8 win.
The kick-off was slightly delayed at the Keepmoat for Sheffield and Featherstone and medical emergency meant that the second half was delayed for almost forty minutes, but neither phased Rovers who secured a big win in their quest for Super League. Doyle, Gale and Bussey gave Fev’ a 14-0 lead before Knowles got Sheffield’s first. Lockwood and Tyson-Wilson traded four-pointers before Field and Gale added two more for Rovers for a 32-12 interval lead. After the long interval Featherstone started the brightest with Brown increasing the lead. Lockwood and Hall added two more tries for Featherstone before Farrell grabbed a late consolation for the Eagles in their 18-50 loss.
