Championship round-up with new-look London Broncos off to a winning start

Ben Olawumi 18 Jan 2026 5:49 PM

London Broncos celebrate a try in 2026 - Image credit: London Broncos

The 2026 Championship season is underway, with the new-look London Broncos off to a winning start having thumped Widnes Vikings 44-12 at Plough Lane.

London were taken over by a group including wealthy Australian businessman Grant Wechsel and NRL icon Darren Lockyer during the off-season.

Papua New Guinea boss Jason Demetriou was swiftly recruited as the Broncos‘ new head coach, with an influx of talent heading to the capital for 2026 including a plethora of Kumuls.

The capital club were denied entry into a newly-expanded 14-club Super League, but pressed on with their reinvigoration project regardless, and are now the red-hot favourites to dominate the second tier this term.

Sunday showed exactly why, with Widnes swept aside comfortably.

Want more Love Rugby League? Add us as a preferred source on Google and ensure you never miss our exclusives and breaking news!

Championship round-up with new-look London Broncos off to a winning start

Elsewhere this weekend, Friday night brought the first-ever game played by Salford RLFC, the new incarnation following the demise and liquidation of Salford Red Devils.

The new phoenix club were formed by a consortium including Mason Caton-Brown, with boyhood Salford fan Ryan Brierley appointed as their CEO.

Their first game ended in a 44-0 defeat on home soil to Oldham, but the near-5,000 attendance at the CorpArq Stadium suggests that Salford fans are just happy they still have a club to support after more than a year of peril.

This year, the Championship comprises of 20 clubs with the second and third tiers having merged ahead of 2026.

There were also wins for Barrow Raiders, Newcastle Thunder, Doncaster, Dewsbury Rams, Keighley Cougars, Rochdale Hornets and Sheffield Eagles on Sunday.

Thunder have partnered with newly-promoted Super League outfit York, and that partnership has come to fruition almost immediately as the North East natives recorded a first win since 2023, beating Midlands Hurricanes!

Both of those sides were in League 1 alongside one another last year.

The weekend’s full results can be seen below…

Championship 2026: Round 1 results