Championship: Sheffield Eagles open with 12-try win, but defeats for Batley and Halifax

The new-look Eagles - featuring 10 new signings – took the lead as James Davey and Anthony Thackeray combined for Oliver Davies to cross.

Sheffield increased their lead as Ryan Millar, James Glover and Josh Guzdek went over for tries,

The points continued to flow with Corey Makelim burrowing over from dummy-half for another converted score, then Davey’s grubber was touched down by Joel Farrell.

Ryan Gray crossed with a try for Swinton after the break, but Thackeray replied with four tries to stretch Sheffield’s advantage.

Blackmore and Millar added tries – Billy Brickhill grabbing a consolation try for the visitors – as Sheffield completed an emphatic victory.

Batley Bulldogs produced a lacklustre display as they slipped to a 22-18 defeat in their opening game at home to Barrow Raiders.

It was the first time since 2001 that Barrow had left Mount Pleasant with victory but it was a poor Bulldogs display - both in attack and defence - which cost them.

Batley led 18-14 at half-time – thanks to tries from Sam Wood, Alistair Leak and Dominic Brambani, all converted by Dave Scott – having played down the slope but they were nilled in the second half as Barrow turned the game.

Too often when in possession, individual errors prevented Batley from threatening the Raiders line, while defensive mistakes allowed Barrow to secure the points.

The visitors ran out winners with tries from Jake Spedding (2), Jono Smith and Lewis Charnock.

James Dallimore converted two, and also kicked a second-half penalty.

Elsewhere,Halifax started their season with a 40-16 defeat at Widnes as Richard Marshall’s side were undone by the class of Cook Islands centre Anthony Gelling.

The former Wigan player, who won a Grand Final with the Warriors, justified Widnes’s investment in his talents with two tries and an assist, while the man outside him, Ryan Ince, helped himself to a hat trick.

Halifax replied with three tries from Will Sharp, Ben Kavanagh and Steve Tyrer, who also added two conversions.

Widnes’s other tries came from Danny Craven and Jack Owens, who kicked six conversions.