The Toronto Wolfpack’s Super League promotion hopes got an assist on Thursday from Salford.
The Red Devils defeated Toulouse Olympique 44-10 to ensure that Toronto can finish no lower than fifth in the final Super 8s Qualifiers rugby league standings. That means the Wolfpack, at the very least, will be in a promotion playoff.
The Super 8s Qualifiers group the bottom four teams in the elite Super League (Leeds Rhinos, Hull Kingston Rovers, Salford and Widnes Vikings) with the top four in the second-tier Betfred Championship (Toronto, London Broncos, Toulouse and Halifax RLFC).
The top three in the standings secure automatic places in the Super League while No. 4 faces No. 5 in the ‘Million Pound Game’ on Oct. 7 to see who joins them.
Toronto (4-2-0) plays at Leeds (5-1-0) on Friday, while London (3-2-0) hosts Halifax (0-6-0) on Saturday and the Rovers (4-2-0) entertain Widnes (1-5-0) on Sunday.
The Salford win moved the Red Devils (5-2-0) atop the table on point difference over Leeds, both on 10 points. With a point difference of 143 (the first tiebreaker), Salford has almost certainly clinched a place back in Super League.
Toronto and Hull Kingston Rovers are both on eight points — a win away from 10 points. London can reach eight points with a win on Sunday
Toulouse (3-4-0) finishes with six points. Widnes and Halifax have already been relegated.
A win on Friday and Toronto cloud finish as high as third, depending on other results, which would mean automatic promotion.