Loan Watch: Four Rhinos involved in Championship action

At the weekend saw four young Rhinos take to the field in the Betfred Championship and League One for Batley Bulldogs, Keighley Cougars and Midland Hurricanes.

Outside of the club's Reserves competition, players have continued to benefit from gaining valuable minutes away from the club on dual registration and loan and last weekend saw Luke Hooley continue his spell with his former side Batley, duo Joe Gibbons and Tom Nicholson-Watton travel to France with Keighley and Mackenzie Turner make his debut for Midlands Hurricanes in League One.

Featherstone Rovers 28 Batley Bulldogs 8

Saturday's Championship action kicked off with Yorkshire rivals Featherstone Rovers and Batley Bulldogs going head to head at the Millenium Stadium.

Craig Lingards impressive season at the helm of Batley has seen the club rise up the table from tenth in 2020 to consecutive top six finishes. This year they look on to complete the same feat, as well as a potential 1895 Cup win if they can defeat Halifax at Wembley next weekend, although they took a hit against Rovers in a 28-8 defeat.

Luke Hooley pulled on a Batley shirt for the ninth time this season as he continues his dual registration between the Bulldogs and Leeds and produced an assist to put Aidan McGowan over. Dale Morton got the away side's only other score, whilst tries from Elijah Taylor, Matty Wildie, Daniel Smith and two from Arama Hau got Sean Long's side their 19th win of the season.

Toulouse Olympique 64 Keighley Cougars 0

Closely behind Featherstone are Toulouse Olympique, who beat Keighley Cougars 64-0 at the Stade Ernest Wallon.

As part of the traveling Cougars side, Leeds forwards Joe Gibbons and Tom Nicholson-Watton added more minutes under their belts away from the Reserves competition.

Gibbons, who is on a season-long loan with Keighley, returned to the club after a short injury layoff whilst Nicholson-Watton got his first minutes in the Championship in his young career in the defeat. Nicholson-Watton came off the bench, alongside former Leeds Academy team mate Joe Hird, in the tough trip to France as Toulouse.

Rochdale Hornets 37 Midlands Hurricanes 22

At the lower end of the League One table, Midlands Hurricanes lost out 37-22 to Rochdale Hornets despite a fightback in the second half.

Leeds winger Mackenzie Turner, who had spells with Cornwall and Hunslet in 2022, was in action for his first game away from the Rhinos this season, having fully recovered from injury at the start of this year. He was named on the wing for Mark Dunning's side against Rochdale and like in round three's meeting between the two sides, another tight contest saw Midlands fight until the eightieth minute; Matty Chrimes, Liam Welham and Sam Bowring scoring the tries.