Wolfpack hope to earn spot in Super League

The Toronto Wolfpack will host Toulouse Olympique, Widnes Vikings, London Broncos and Hull Kingston Rovers in their playoff push for promotion to the elite Super League.

The transatlantic rugby league team will play away at Halifax RLFC, Salford Red Devils and Leeds Rhinos. The full schedule will be released Wednesday. Joining Toronto in the so-called Super 8s Qualifiers are fellow Betfred Championship sides London Broncos (16-6-1), Toulouse (16-6-1) and Halifax (16-6-1) in their push for promotion.

Toronto (20-2-1) finished the regular season on a losing note Saturday, defeated 30-12 by Featherstone Rovers before a season-high announced crowd of 8,217 at Lamport Stadium. It marked its first home loss in 20 outings (19-1-0) but did not matter in the playoff scheme of things given Toronto had already clinched first place in the second-tier Championship. The top four Championship teams face off with the bottom four Super League teams — Leeds (8-13-2), Hull KR (8-14-1), Salford (7-16-0) and Widnes (3-21-0) — to fill four berths in the first-tier league next year.

The eight teams will play each other once. The top three clubs earn Super League status while No. 4 will take on No. 5 in what is dubbed the Million Pound Game to see who joins them. Featherstone (16-7-0) finished in fifth, one point out of the qualifiers. The playoffs are expected to kick off Aug. 11 and 12. Toronto coach Paul Rowley expressed frustration the playoff format is not carved in stone, so teams have to wait for the schedule. The Wolfpack are part of the problem, however, given the complication of transatlantic travel, especially on short notice. With Toulouse also involved, there are teams from three countries in the Super 8s Qualifiers.

The Wolfpack’s overall record in all competitions is 45-5-2.