Keighley Cougars promoted to the Championship as Leigh Centurions score 100 points against York City Knights

Keighley Cougars have been promoted to the Championship after they wrapped up the League One title with two games to spare following a dominant 48-18 win at Doncaster RLFC.

The Cougars were relegated from the Championship in 2014 and have been in the third tier ever since.

Rhys Lovegrove’s side have dominated League 1 this year, winning all 18 of their games so far while scoring 883 points.

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Junior Sa’u, Jack Miller, Brenden Santi and Lewis Young all dotted down in the first half to give the visitors a comfortable 24-0 lead at the interval.

Rhys Lovegrove, head coach of Keighley Cougars has led his side to promotion with 18 wins from 18. Picture: Alex Broadway/SWpix.com.Rhys Lovegrove, head coach of Keighley Cougars has led his side to promotion with 18 wins from 18. Picture: Alex Broadway/SWpix.com.
Rhys Lovegrove, head coach of Keighley Cougars has led his side to promotion with 18 wins from 18. Picture: Alex Broadway/SWpix.com.

Doncaster made more of a game of it in the second 40 minutes but the Cougars ran in another four tries thanks to a Charlie Graham brace and one score each from Toby Everett and Aaron Levy.

Jack Miller kicked eight goals while the home side got on the board with tries from Tom Halliday, Misi Taulapapa and Robbie Storey.

Elsewhere in League 1, Oldham recorded a 32-12 victory in Cornwall while Hunslet were beaten 38-12 at Swinton Lions.

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In the Championship, York City Knights were on the wrong end of one of the season’s biggest scorelines as they lost 100-4 to Leigh Centurions at the Leigh Sports Village.

Joe Brown scored York’s only points of the afternoon as the league leaders romped to victory.

Joe Mellor scored a hat-trick while there were two tries each for Sam Stone, Ed Chamberlain and Mark Ioane.

Lachlan Lam, Kai O’Donnell, Keanan Brand, Adam Sidlow, Caleb Aekins, Blake Ferguson, Krisnan Inu and Aaron Smith also scored for Leigh.

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Featherstone Rovers remained five points behind the Centurions with a hard-fought 34-24 victory at Barrow Raiders.

In a back-and-forth contest, two tries from Joseph Leilua along with a score each from Jack Broadbent, Craig Kopczak, Josh Hardcastle, Morgan Smith and Ben Hellewell was enough for Rovers to claim the result against a resilient Barrow side.

Tries from Jon Luke Kirby, Lewis Carr, Dale Ferguson and Aidan Mcgowan helped Dewsbury Rams wrap up an important win as they won 22-16 at Workington Town.

Kieran Gill scored Bradford Bulls’ only points as they lost 12-4 to Whitehaven on home soil while there was a surprise 30-20 defeat for Batley Bulldogs at London Broncos. Two scores from Kieran Buchanan along with one each from Nyle Flynn and Dane Manning wasn’t enough for Craig Lingard’s side to turn things around.

There was more joy for Halifax Panthers and Sheffield Eagles, who beat Newcastle Thunder and Widnes Vikings respectively.