Championship round-up: Hat-tricks galore, Rochdale nearly defy odds, London still unbeaten

We witnessed another entertaining weekend of Championship action.

Luke Briscoe just can’t stop scoring at the minute. He has scored 11 tries already this season and bagged a hat-trick at the Fox’s Biscuits Stadium on Sunday. The winger helped Featherstone Rovers come from 14-10 behind against Batley Bulldogs to secure 40-14 victory.

London’s promising full-back Alex Walker scored a hat-trick at Heywood Road on Sunday. The Broncos scored 13 tries to beat Swinton Lions 64-18 to remain their 100% win record in 2018. Kieran Dixon also scored two tries and kicked eight goals, totalling 24 points.

Shane Toal scored a 15-minute hat-trick to rescue Barrow on Sunday. The winger helped the Raiders come from being 18-0 down after half an hour to secure a 36-22 victory over Sheffield Eagles to keep their unbeaten run into its 23^rd month.

Leigh Centurions look to be progressing and improving following their poor start to the season. Peter Mata’utia put in a stellar display to score two tries while setting up a couple more to guide Leigh to a convincing 36-0 demolition of Dewsbury Rams. Speaking after the game, Centurions caretaker coach Kieron Purtill said several players had their best game in a Leigh shirt. Rams boss Neil Kelly said discipline let Dewsbury down.

Rochdale Hornets came very close to causing one of the upsets of the season on Friday night. They were leading Toronto Wolfpack 16-6 at one stage in the game but the Canadian outfit showed their class towards the end of the game and snatched the two points with a narrow 18-17 victory. Rochdale’s Lewis Palfrey and Toronto’s Liam Kay and Gareth O’Brien were sin-binned in the second half for fighting.

Richard Marshall will be hoping to forget about a nightmare week for Halifax. They were knocked out of the Challenge Cup by League 1 side Oldham and then lost 38-6 in France against Toulouse Olympique. Johnathan Ford ran the show all afternoon for the French side.

London remain at the top of the Betfred Championship table, having won six out of their first six games. Toulouse and Featherstone are also on 12 points but have each played one more game than London.

Sheffield and Swinton sit rock bottom of the ladder after losing all six of their opening fixtures. They both have over -150 points difference already.