Monday night's midtable clash in the Betfred Championship saw sixth-placed York City Knights entertain Bradford Bulls, sitting in ninth place, with neither team having a stellar record in their recent games.

The Bulls had won only the latest of their last six games, a 48-18 home win over Workington Town. In the same period, York had defeated Dewsbury and Newcastle in successive away trips.

It was a famous old name from the glory days of Super League's start taking on an also-ran from those days who dropped out in disarray back in 2003.

But at the the Championship's Summer Bash in 2022, it was Bradford Bulls who are the club in disarray while Halifax Panthers entered the game as a top-four club in everyone's sights

The Magic Weekend starts here with a Championship curtain raiser in the form of Newcastle Thunder against the Bradford Bulls, the latter having played a memorable part in many previous Magic Weekends.

Thunder were taking full advantage of this weekend being staged in their city at St James Park and hoping for a bumper crowd for what had been dubbed as Magic Friday at Kingston Park as they looked to reduce the six point deficit that they currently have to their West Yorkshire opponents. A victory for the Bulls wouldn´t improve their league position but it would edge them closer on points to the current top six.

The Bulls were clear favourites for the win but this was Newcastle´s special night.

Ninth-placed Bradford Bull welcomed Featherstone Rovers to their narrow Odsall pitch, off the back of  two narrow defeats, including a loss to Halifax Panthers, who played 79 minutes of the match with 12 men.

The visitors arrived unbeaten, amidst a flurry of speculation around the possible signing of former Wigan full back/centre Zak Hardaker, who the Cherry and Whites had released "to persue career options" in his home territory of West Yorkshire.

Of immediate interest, though, was the return of winter signing Jesse Sene-Lefao following an injury in the opening game of the season.

At stake were two vital league points - as well as the Peter Fox memorial trophy.

Round 3 of the Betfred Championship concluded with Leigh Centurions, who lost to Featherstone on TV last week, hosting a Bradford Bulls outfit looking to bounce back after losing to Sheffield.

The Betfred Championships game of the day was without doubt the clash at Odsal between third placed Bradford Bulls and second placed Featherstone Rovers who were looking to maintain their one hundred percent record and keep up the pressure on a Toulouse Olympique side who are top of the table courtesy of a superior points difference.

The home side had Sam Hallas back in their line-up but were without Aaron Murphy and Thomas Doyle who both had minor injuries keeping them out of the game while Rovers welcomed back Kris Welham but were without the services of Craig Kopczak who was rested.

Despite home advantage the Bulls were the underdogs with the bookies, Featherstone clear favourites to record their thirteenth win of the season with Bradford getting a twelve-point start on the coupon.

Having had a very turbulent 2012, followed with more financial problems in 2013 the Bradford Bulls are in the process of rebuilding.



With the loss of key players in Elliot Whitehead, Keith Lulia, Jamie Langley, John Bateman and Heath L’Estrange the situation could be considered desperate, and is compounded by the loss of the Bulls youngsters in Whitehead, Naughton and Bateman means a big blow for the club in terms of up and coming stars and the future.

Four tries from Bradford Bulls maestro Jarrod Sammut helped Bradford to victory as they brushed aside a much-changed Huddersfield Giants side 58-6 at the Provident Stadium.



Sammut put in a man of the match performance as he scored two tries each side of half time and created the majority of Bradford’s attacking chances.

A late Adam Sidlow try snatched a draw for Bradford against the old enemy in a pulsating contest at Headingley Stadium.



As the clock ticked down, and having already defended continuous sets of six on their own try line, Jamie Peacock was sent to the Sin Bin for a professional foul, leaving the Rhinos to defend relentless Bradford pressure with a man down.

It proved a bridge too far for the tiring Leeds’ defenders as Adam Sidlow burst onto L’Eastrange’s short ball to crash over in front of the delirious travelling army of Bradford fans that were camped on the western terrace.