Championship round-up: London close in on history as play-off race takes twist

Aaron Bower 19 Jul 2026 5:23 PM

London Broncos took another significant step towards top spot in the Championship – with two more teams moving to the brink of securing their spots in the end-of-season play-offs.

Jason Demetriou’s league leaders made it 18 wins from 18 games after hammering Salford RLFC 62-4 on Sunday afternoon, a result which means Salford are now sat out side the play-offs by a point following results elsewhere.

Rob Mathias scored four tries with Fin Glare crossing for a brace as London ran in another big score and take them through 1,100 points scored already this season in just 18 games. Their points difference is now 977, just 23 shy of a whopping 1,000 – and they are another step closer towards becoming one of just a handful of clubs in rugby league history to record a perfect league campaign.

They are still a few wins short of securing the League Leader’s Shield going into the play-offs, with Oldham and Newcastle Thunder recording big wins on the weekend. The Thunder won 90-0 against North Wales Crusaders to move back above Oldham and into second on points difference.

Doncaster and Sheffield are moving ever close to a play-off berth themselves after victories over Swinton Lions and Workington Town respectively. The two South Yorkshire sides are sixth and seventh with just a few weekends of league action remaining.

Just below them are Midlands, another who look to be inching towards a top ten spot after hammering Rochdale Hornets 42-4. The Hurricanes are seven points clear of 11th placed Dewsbury, who lost ground on the top ten after succumbing to a home defeat to Halifax Panthers.

The Panthers would have been inside the play-offs themselves had it not been for their hefty points deduction, with Kyle Eastmond’s side producing another impressive win against a local rival to continue to move forwards after a difficult year with financial issues.

Whitehaven occupy the tenth and final play-off spot after a big win at home on Sunday afternoon. They defeated Goole Vikings to move above Dewsbury and Salford and into the play-offs, as the regular season approaches its final few weeks of 2026 before a mammoth play-off campaign gets underway at the end of the summer.