Monday 24 September 2018 17:23, UK
Wins for St Helens and the Broncos feature in our best of the round, as well as the Dragons' lap of honour at Nou Camp...
In August the Dragons beat Warrington Wolves 20-14 at Wembley to win the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup - becoming the first non-British winners in the competition's 121-year history - and on Sunday they were given a chance to show off their trophy during half-time of Barcelona's 2-2 draw with Girona at Nou Camp.
A night the players will no doubt remember forever!
Danny Richardson claimed a personal tally of 14 points and Ben Barba bagged two tries as St Helens laid down a marker for their Super League semi-final against Warrington with a comfortable 34-14 victory at the Halliwell Jones Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Scrum-half Richardson registered a try and five goals to add to full-back Barba's brace, with Saints' other tries scored by Luke Douglas, Regan Grace and Jonny Lomax.
The highly-anticipated semi-final showdown between these two sides will be live on Sky Sports Arena and Main Event from 7.30pm on Thursday the 4th of October. It's sure to be a cracker.
Richardson and man-of-the-match Lomax were superb for Saints, but our accolade goes to Jarrod Sammut this week, after he slotted seven points with his boot - including a drop goal - to hand the Broncos a hugely-important Qualifiers victory over Salford on Saturday.
The victory means the Broncos still have a chance of making the Million Pound Game with one round of Super 8s Qualifiers against Halifax left to play. That game will be live on Sky Sports Arena from 7pm this Saturday.
Lomax's score from a brilliant Mark Percival pass in Saints' win at the Halliwell Jones is our try of the round.
In the same game, Josh Charnley managed to stop what looked to be a certain try for Richardson.
Widnes' seven-year stay in Super League came to an end as they were beaten 20-12 by Toronto at the Lamport Stadium on Saturday. The Vikings have flirted with relegation all year, and ended the regular season eight points adrift at the foot of the table with just three wins.
They were handed the chance of a reprieve via the Super 8s Qualifiers but made the worst possible start with a home defeat by London Broncos and, although they grabbed a lifeline with victory over Halifax a week ago, defeat in Toronto sealed their fate.
Widnes chief executive James Rule described relegation "as a devastating moment" and apologised for "the experiences of the past two years" in a statement issued within minutes of the club's third defeat by Championship opponents.
"Further statements will be issued soon, however at this stage we simply wish to apologise for the experiences of the past two seasons, where results have fallen far below our expectations and provide assurances on the future ambitions for Widnes Vikings," Rule said.
"The Vikings intend to remain a professional, full-time organisation. We are determined to make every effort to retain the best of our talent and to also effectively rebuild this squad, with the intention of making an immediate return to the Super League."
York City Knights beat Whitehaven 32-14 on Sunday to become League 1 champions and secure promotion into the Championship - the only automatic promotion on offer to League 1 teams.
Bradford Bulls, Doncaster, Workington Town and Oldham will now feature in the League 1 semi-finals, with the winner of the eventual Grand Final going up to the Championship, and the loser of the final going into a play-off with the bottom-placed Championship side at the end of the regular season.
One Championship team who may be avoiding the promotion-relegation game is Rochdale Hornets, who beat Dewsbury Rams 26-22 in the penultimate round on Sunday.
If the Hornets beat Sheffield this weekend, and Swinton lose to Batley, then the Lions will finish the season at the bottom of the table. In other good news for the Hornets, the club have announced that Carl Forster will be joining as a player-coach next year, following his departure from Whitehaven at the end of the current campaign.
Elsewhere in League 1, Tom Tsang guided Coventry Bears to a 14-4 victory over Hunslet after a late defeat up at Whitehaven last weekend. This year has been a very good season for the Bears, winning against some heartland clubs in 2018.
