Even though Super League is taking a back seat for the Challenge Cup semi-finals this weekend, there is still plenty of decisive league action taking place, as the battle for Championship survival seriously hots up.
Of the whopping five relegation spots in the Championship this season, two have already been filled – as Barrow and Swinton have already been condemned to Championship One Rugby League in 2015. Rochdale and North Wales Crusaders are hanging on by a thread themselves, and could both be relegated with defeated this weekend. However, it’s the fifth and final relegation spot that is perhaps the most interesting – with as many as six teams scrapping over one relegation spot.
With four games left in the regular season, those six teams are split by just seven competition points, meaning there is still everything to play for at all ends of the table in the most thrilling of Championship seasons. This weekend sees two of those teams do battle, as tenth placed Whitehaven host ninth placed Batley Bulldogs. With safety likely meaning a place in the Championship play-offs too, there is still everything to play for. Here are the remaining games for each of the six teams, and the current standings in the Championship:
Dewsbury Rams – 5th place (42 points)
Rochdale (H), Batley (A), Keighley (H), Workington (A)
Workington Town – 6th place (41 points)
Doncaster (A), Barrow (H), Leigh (A), Dewsbury (H)
Sheffield Eagles – 7th place (39 points)
Swinton (H), Whitehaven (H), Rochdale (H), Featherstone (A), Keighley (A)
Keighley Cougars – 8th place (38 points)
Barrow (A), North Wales (H), Dewsbury (A), Featherstone (H)
Batley Bulldogs – 9th place (38 points)
Whitehaven (A), Dewsbury (H), Swinton (H), Doncaster (A)
Whitehaven – 10th place – CURRENTLY IN RELEGATION ZONE – (35 points)
Batley (H), Sheffield (A), Rochdale (H), Swinton (A)