Championship: Batley within touching distance of the play-offs after Broncos win

John Kear’s men now need just a point from their last match of the regular season at Swinton next Sunday to join Leigh and the Broncos in the mix for a tilt at Super League.

The race for the two remaining spots will go down to the wire, with Bradford, Featherstone and Halifax all in the hunt on the final day.

Winger Shaun Ainscough and half-back Dominic Brambani scored two tries apiece for Batley, while Shaun Squires and Adam Gledhill got the others as Pat Walker kicked three goals and Brambani kicked a last-minute drop goal.

London, who trailed 14-4 at the break, scored tries through Elliot Kear, Ben Hellewell, Api Pewhairangi and Mark Offerdahl, while Australian scrum-half Jamie Soward kicked two goals on his return to the club.

Dewsbury Rams beat Swinton Lions 34-16 in the Championship.

Tony Tonks scored two tries for the hosts, with Lucas Walshaw, Dale Morton, Matt Groat and Andy Kain bagging the others and Paul Sykes kicking five goals for the Rams.

At the bottom of Super League, there was no joy for new Huddersfield head coach Rick Stone as in-form St Helens came away with a comfortable 34-18 victory.

The win – Saints’ fourth in succession – strengthens their bid to get into the top four ahead of the Super Eights, which begin in less than three weeks, drawing them level on points with Catalans Dragons.

Defeat leaves the Giants bottom of the table, a position they inherited less than 48 hours earlier thanks to Leeds’ narrow defeat of Wigan, and it is now looking highly unlikely they will be able to claim the extra home game, which is on offer to the sides finishing ninth and 10th in the table.