Harrison happy with Bulldogs after wheels come off for Barrow

Barrow Raiders 22 Batley Bulldogs 30

BATLEY shocked Barrow Raiders and new coach Nigel Wright as they stuck to their gameplan and came away from Cumbria with the points.

The Bulldogs led 14-0 after just 17 minutes and even managed to see off a Raiders fightback that had the home side leading with only quarter-of-an-hour to go.

A Paul Handforth penalty put Batley ahead, before Kris Lythes forced his way through a tackle for their first try.

Alex Bretherton soon added a second after a strong break from his own line with Ian Preece and Batley were 14-0 ahead in no time.

Barrow did hit back, with Jamie Rooney finishing off one try, but then inexplicably failing to score a second as he had a free run to the line, but chose to cut inside instead of going for the corner and was brought down.

Mark Toohey barged in before half-time to make it 18-6, with the Barrow fightback starting after the interval.

Ned Catic scored their first try and Michael Knowles their second of the half – sandwiching a Handforth penalty – to bring them back within four points.

Raiders went ahead with a James Coyle try, Andy Ballard kicking from the touchline, but the Bulldogs showed they are made of stronger stuff as Paul Mennell and Alex Brown scored late tries to give them the victory they deserved.

Bulldogs coach Karl Harrison said: “I thought it was a good performance. I wasn’t 100 per cent happy, but to come to Barrow – one of the leading lights in this division – and get a result away from home is fantastic for us as a club.

“I still believe we’re not quite where we need to be, but we are certainly going in the right direction. We had had good preparation all week. We had spoken about how Barrow can start quick and we wanted to combat that.”

Barrow Raiders: Broadbent, Ballard, Catic, Harrison, Larkin, Rooney, Coyle, Walker, Gleeson, James, Knowles, Hughes, Luisi. Substitutes: Fletcher, Campbell, Butler, Davies.

Batley: Preece, Campbell, D. Williams, Maun, Rettie, Handforth, Mennell, Smith, Lythe, Hesketh, Bretherton, Walton, Manning. Substitutes: Brown, Toohey, Potter, Robinson.

Referee: R Laughton (RFL).

Sheffield Eagles 41 Halifax 22

SHEFFIELD Eagles made it three wins in a row as they defied a torrential rainstorm in the first half to leave Halifax. floundering at Bramall Lane.

Last season’s Grand Final winners – who last week missed out on a Super League licence – are still without a win in the Championship and despite coming back in the second half could not match the Eagles’ attacking flair.

The win helped wipe out the memory of the Eagles defeat by Halifax in the play-off semi-finals last season.

The visitors put up the first points from Joe Chandler with Graham Holroyd adding the goal.

Eagles drew level and then went ahead with Menzie Yere powering over from 10 metres and winger Vinny Finigan squeezing in at the corner.

Simon Brown kicked the first of six goals.

As monsoon like rain swept across Bramall Lane the Eagles stormed ahead with Alex Rowe blasting over under the posts from Andrew Henderson’s pass and winger Tim Bergin given an easy run in from Quentin Laulu-Togagae’s final pass to lead 22-6 at half-time.

From the restart Halifax got an early boost with a second try from Chandler from Holroyd’s pass.

Eagles came back with two quick tries as hooker Andrew Henderson went in under the posts and Wood raced in after a 30-metre break by Alex Rowe.

Halifax enjoyed their best spell with tries from Paul White and former Eagles winger Rob Worrincy, with goals from Holroyd narrowing the gap to12 points.

Brown eased Eagles nerves with a field goal and a late try from prop Ryan Hepworth made sure of denying Halifax even a losing bonus point.

Eagles coach Mark Aston said: “Take nothing away from Halifax, we have beaten the team that won the Grand Final last year. We were still smarting from going out to them in the semis. We’ve put that right.”

Sheffield Eagles: Laulu-Togagae; Finigan, Yere, Crookes, Bergin; Wood, Brown; Hepworth, Henderson, Stringer, Szostak, Green, Hirst. Substitutes: Cording, Rowe, Battye, McDonald.

Halifax: Greenwood; White, Haley, Goddard, Worrincy; Holroyd, Black; Gannon, Beswick, Ostick, Chandler, Smith, Barlow. Substitutes: Jones, Penkywicz. Aizue, Cherryholme.

Referee: M Thomason (RFL).

Swinton maintained their unbeaten record in Championship One with a comprehensive 48-24 victory over Gateshead.

Whitehaven enjoyed a 48-16 win over London Skolars.

Jarrad Stack scored a brace of tries as Workington Town maintained their 100 per cent home record with a 38-24 victory over South Wales Scorpions.

Toulouse Olympique 18 Featherstone Rovers 56

On a lovely spring like day across the English Channel, the travelling Featherstone Rovers found the conditions perfect for their all-round game.

They made it clear from the off their intentions to keep the ball alive and spread it wide at every opportunity directed superbly by half-backs Liam Finn and Andy Kain at the top of their game.

Toulouse made it that bit easier for them with a catalogue of schoolboy errors giving possession away at will.

The game as a contest was over really with just 30 minutes on the clock as the Rovers roared away racking up six tries at a point a minute.

Tommy Saxton and Andy Bostock were unstoppable in the three quarters got three between them and others from Finn (2) and Sam Smeaton.

Darren Nicholls got a well-worked score for the home side but at 32-6 Rovers were in the driving seat as the half-time hooter sounded.

Resplendent in red Rovers consolidated their position further when Ian Hardman got their seventh try soon after the resumption. Toulouse came a bit more into the game inspired by their Australian half-backs.

Nicholls got his second try and Josh Lewis an interception score, both converted.

But that’s as far as it went for the French as Featherstone imposed themselves once again when the impressive Jon Grayshon stepped his way over for a fine try.

Two further opportunistic scores from Kain at the end brought up the 10-try haul with an impressive 22 points contribution from scrum-half Finn including seven conversions.

No holding Rovers now back on top of the pile once again.

Toulouse: Couturier, White, Planas, Tisseyre, Bienes, Nicholls, Lewis, Worth, Anselme, Corcoran, Wynn, Maria, Houles. Substitutes: Larroyer, Gout, Pelo, Gigord.

Featherstone: Hardman, Powell, Smeaton, Bostock, Saxton, Kain, Finn, Tonks, Kaye, Dickens, Grayshon, Spears, Worthington. Substitutes: Morrison, Dale, Hepworth, Williams.

Referee: G Hewer (RFL).