It was a Sunday afternoon of high drama across the Kingstone Press Championship as Batley came within five minutes of upsetting the Bradford Bulls, Workington came close to defeating the Sheffield Eagles, and Whitehaven sprung a surprise on the visiting London Broncos to record their first two points of the season.

Elsewhere it was business as usual for the relentless Leigh Centurions, a good win for Halifax over the Dewsbury Rams and a fifth consecutive 2015 loss for Doncaster at the hands of Hunslet leaving them anchored to the bottom of the league.

Few would have predicted an opening win of the season for Whitehaven as they played hosts to last years Super League opposition as the London Broncos swung into town. An early converted try from Burns saw a reply from Bronco Macani to give the home side a slender 6-4 half time lead, a margin that they would retain at the final hooter. Newton and Brocklebank, both with converted tries, extended the lead to 18-4 but Williams and Dwyer both responded in a five minute spell around the hour mark to get the Broncos within two. Whitehaven kept the visitors out for the last twenty and secured Havens first points of 2015.

The early kick-off had also taken place in Cumbria when Sheffield Eagles visited Workington looking to maintain the pressure on top spot. Everything was going right for the Eagles in the first half and they opened up an 8-0 lead with a try from Yere, converted by Briggs, and a Briggs penalty on the half-time hooter. Early in the second half a Smeaton converted try extended the Eagles lead to 14-0 before Workington launched a fightback which almost enabled them to snatch the points. Tries form Forrester and Whiteley, both converted by Forber, reduced the deficit to two but the visitors held on for the last five minutes to take the points back to South Yorkshire.

South Yorkshires other team, Doncaster, continued their miserable season despite having taken a first half lead when tries from Sanderson and Naughton eclipsed the Hunslet opener scored by Kain. On twenty-five it was 8-6 to Donny but a Watson try just before the break regained Hunslet a lead at half time. A Sanderson penalty early in the second half got the sides level at 12-12 but from then on in the scoring was all Hunslet. Tries from Kain (2) and Brennan along with three conversions and a penalty from Ansell secured a solid home win by 32-12.

Batley Bulldogs came within five minutes of causing a major upset as they almost upset Bradford Bulls in front of 2,223 at Mount Pleasant. Tries by Shaw and Mullaney for Bradford and Squires for Batley gave a half time score of 6-14 but little indication of the excitement that the second half would have in store. Chandler and Hirst both got converted tries in a three minute spell around fifty to take their side into an 18-14 lead and when Southernwood kicked a drop goal on seventy-one he must have been confident that he'd steered his side to a famous win. but tries from Williams, on seventy-six, and Ulugia, on eighty, both converted by Shaw snatched a 26-19 win for the Bulls and take them four from five.

Halifax and Dewsbury started the day level on points, although the Rams had a game in hand, and The Shay was all set for a tussle. A pointless opening half hour was followed by three tries in the last ten minutes when Pryce and Thackeray for the Rams and Heaton for Halifax gave a half-time score of 12-6 to the visitors. A Saltonstall try on the hour mark was converted by Tyrer to,level the scores and when Hyde dropped a goal on seventy for a one point lead all his side had to do was hold on for the win. Halifax had different ideas and three tries in the last six minutes from Potts, Tyrer and Ambler left the scoreline looking a little better for Halifax than it should have been at 26-13.

The Leigh bandwagon rolled on at Featherstone, despite the league leaders trailing 6-4 at half time thanks to a Chappell converted try cancelling out an early Kay effort for the Centurions. The second half was one-way traffic with seven unanswered tries from the visitors (Armstrong, Goulden, Haggerty, Platt, Kay and Brierley) seeing them home for a comfortable 40-6 win.

Next weekend sees a break from the Championship as the focus switches to the Challenge Cup and the quest for Wembley.