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Plenty of possibilities as Toronto Wolfpack enter final week of promotion push

Sep 23, 2018 | 1:45 PM

TORONTO — With just one round left in the Super 8s Qualifiers, the Toronto Wolfpack find themselves one of six rugby league teams contesting four spots in the top-flight Super League.

About the only thing certain is that Widnes Vikings (1-5-0) and Halifax RLFC (0-6-0) are out of contention, with the Vikings dropping down to join Halifax in the second-tier Betfred Championship.

Leeds Rhinos (5-1-0) top the promotion table with 10 points, followed by Salford Red Devils, the Wolfpack and Hull Kingston Rovers (all 4-2-0) on eight points and Toulouse Olympique and London Broncos (both 3-3-0) on six points.

The top three team secure automatic promotion with No. 4 facing No. 5 in the so-called “Million Pound Game” to see who joins them.

Saturday saw Championship sides Toronto, London and Toulouse take down Super League sides in Widnes, Salford and Hull KR.

“It justifies what I’ve said right at the beginning that anybody can beat anybody and we’ve seen that,” said Toronto coach Paul Rowley.

The drama could be spread over four days this week.

Salford hosts Toulouse on Thursday, Leeds entertains Toronto on Friday and Halifax visits London on Saturday before Hull KR host Widnes.

Toronto defeated Widnes 20-12 Saturday to end the Vikings’ seven-year stay in the Super League.

While Leeds has a two-point advantage, promotion is not secure. A lopsided loss to Toronto combined with Salford and Hull KR wins could drop the Rhinos into the Million Pound Game.

A Toronto win could earn the Wolfpack automatic promotion or a place in the Million Pound Game, depending on points difference. The worst-case scenario in event of a Wolfpack loss, depending on results elsewhere and points difference, is Toronto could finish sixth — out of promotion contention.

Leeds are not going to make it easy. 

“We’d love to come top of the Qualifiers and we know that there’s a scrap beneath us,” Kevin Sinfield, Leeds’ director of rugby, said after Sunday’s 34-6 win over Halifax. “At the minute it’s in our hands. Why would we allow it to wait on point difference … and everyone get the calculators out?

“Toronto are a good side and they’ll come and throw some bits at us. They’ll be desperate but it’s our last home game of the year … We’ve not been great all year and I think it’d be really nice to send our fans home next Friday night knowing that we’re on the right track.”

Sinfield had pondered giving some of his young talent playing time but that changed when the Rhinos under-19 team made its grand final.

The Super 8s Qualifiers pit the bottom four teams in the Super League (Leeds, Hull KR, Salford and Widnes) against the top four in the second-tier Betfred Championship (Toronto, London, Toulouse and Halifax).

The promotion and relegation system will change next year with a simple one-up and one-down format. Rowley supports the change.

“I just think while (the current format) is exciting, it’s too much of a mash-up,” said Rowley.  

Down 12-10 Saturday, Blake Wallace cut through three tacklers from close-range in the 57th minute to put the Wolfpack ahead 16-12 with the conversion. Gareth O’Brien added penalties in the 67th and 70th minutes to stretch the lead to 20-12.

Toronto’s defence then rose to the occasion, blunting desperate Widnes attacks.

Cory Paterson and Matty Russell also scored tries for Toronto, which notched its first win over Super League opposition in five tries. O’Brien kicked two conversions and two penalties. The Toronto fullback, normally on target, also missed a conversion and two penalties.

Joe Mellor and Chris Dean scored tries for Widnes, which trailed 10-8 at the half. Krisnan Inu added a conversion and a penalty.

The game was played before a season-high crowd of 8,281 at Lamport Stadium.

Toronto, which started in the third-tier League 1 last year, has lost just seven of 58 competitive matches (49-7-2) over two years with four of those setbacks at the hands of Super League opposition in Challenge Cup or playoff play.

The only other losses have come to York City Knights in League 1 play last year and London and Featherstone Rovers in the Championship this year.

 

Follow @NeilMDavidson on Twitter

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press