UK Championship (Division 2) 2018 : Review & Teams Rated

The second division of pro/semi pro RL in the UK is an unusual one. The top sides are good enough to challenge the best but the lower sides are well off the pace. It creates a 'haves and have nots' scenario. After 23 rounds, all the teams in the top six had at least 32 points, none of the rest could better 16 points. It's a shame that the top six cannot go into SL and the lower six into the division below. Money is the problem. Half the division is fully professional, the other half semi-pro.

What teams wanted was to make the top four and challenge for division 1 (Super League) status.  The four that did are in pale blue below, left. The top four went into the Qualifiers with confidence although Halifax was only ever going to make up the numbers, being the only semi-pro side there. London got the SL spot, which looking at performance over the course of the season, should have gone to Toronto.

The other eight played off for the Championship Shield. Points were unfortunately carried over which meant the shield finalists were known before a game was played. The only issue was the shield winner (of those two) and who faced relegation to division three (League 1). The Shield side took its predictable course, with Featherstone defeating Leigh 42-10 in the final. Barrow was relegated and Swinton avoided the same fate with a 33-20 victory over Workington, the challenging League 1 side.

							SL Qualifiers
							1	Salford	10
							2	Leeds	10
	Championship						3	Hull KR	10
	1	Toronto	41				4	Toronto	10
	2	London	33				5	London (W)	8
	3	Toulouse	33				6	Toulouse	6
	4	Halifax	33				7	Widnes	2
	5	Featherstone	32				8	Halifax	0
	6	Leigh	32
	7	Batley	16
	8	Sheffield	14				Championship Shield
	9	Dewsbury	13				1	Featherstone	46
	10	Barrow	13				2	Leigh	40
	11	Swinton	8				3	Batley	28
	12	Rochdale	8				4	Dewsbury	21
							5	Barrow	19
							6	Sheffield	16
							7	Swinton	12
							8	Rochdale	10

Rankings:

12th - Rochdale 4/19 & 1/6. The club struggled, earning just five wins from 30 matches says it all. They came up from  League 1 two years ago and now return.

11th - Swinton 3/2/18 & 2/5. Not much better but managed to survive another year. They were promoted three years ago and are finding this level tough. Treading water. 

10th - Sheffield 7/16 & 1/6. The team does well considering its had issues with finding a local ground. Seems to have one now, so hopefully things can move forward. Not a great season though.

9th - Barrow 5/3/15 & 3/4. The first year after promotion and did enough to stay. 

8th - Dewsbury 6/1/16 & 4/3. Battles in the lower half of the division and did better in the Shield.

7th - Batley 8/15 & 6/1. Was the best of the 'have nots' and had a very good Shield run.

6th - Leigh 16/7 & 4/3. Having arrived down from Super League, the club was determined to go straight back but it wasn't to be. Once that realisation came to fruition, it seems the heads went down. Will they pick themselves up for 2019? They did make the quarterfinals of the Challenge Cup, when their heads were in a better place.

5th - Featherstone 16/7 & 7/0. They too had aspirations of a Qualifiers berth, if not expecting promotion. They missed out but got on with things and finished the Shield and final unbeaten.

4th - Halifax 16/1/6 & 0/7. Twice in consecutive years they have made the Qualifiers, on both occasions not able to register a victory. Did their fans proud getting as far as they did. They came up short in a tough competition, losing all seven.

3rd - Toulouse 16/1/6 & 3/4. The team from France only got promoted two seasons ago and at its second attempt made the playoffs. Even went close to making the Million Pound game. It would be nice to see them in the Super League, sooner rather than later.

2nd - London 16/1/6 & 4/3. This side made Houdini look like an amateur. They scrapped into the Qualifiers when they it seemed they would miss out, then squeaked into the Million Pound game. They went to Toronto and doggedly fought for a 4-2 victory. A team that has good fighting spirit. They will need it in Super League in 2019.

1st - Toronto 20/1/2 & 5/2. How does a team that lost the Million Pound game get rated top? It was clearly the best in the league and was best finishing Million Pound team. It had won five more games that London going into the vital clash and had earned home ground advantage. However, at the final hurdle it wasn't able to produce the performance that would reflect the season as a whole.