END OF THE WARR FOR COACH TONY

Canadian side win League One and target top flight ANTONIO BROWN had 11 receptions as the Pittsburgh Steelers opened the season with a 21-18 win over the Cleveland Browns. The wide receiver (above) had 182 yards out of the Pittsburgh offence’s 290. Browns

TORONTO WOLFPACK coach Paul Rowley has set his sights on Super League after the transatlantic club secured the League One title.

A record 7,972 crowd at sunny Lamport Stadium witnessed the Wolfpack clinch promotion to the Championship with victory over Barrow.

Now the ambitious Canadian club will be playing just one division below the top flight.

The attendance was even more remarkable given that Toronto’s soccer and baseball teams were in action at the same time.

The Wolfpack continue to win friends and influence people following their introduction to the league system this year. Celebrations lasted long into the night as players joined fans in the beer tents situated within the ground to toast their first step towards the top table.

For Rowley, who joined the club from Leigh Centurions, promotion to the second tier is the start of a far bigger movement.

He said: “We’re proud of what we’ve achieved this year, but we have a vision to do much more.

“Promotion is fantastic but we want to make it to the top of the game and we feel we can do that.

“Most importantly, we can help the sport grow.

“What you see at games over here is like nothing else currently in the game.

“The sport and the RFL need to sit up, take notice and realise what can be done if it’s done right.”

Certainly, the match-day experience in Canada is incomparable.

A Canadian air force jet flew over the stadium while entertainment at the interval included a cannon firing hot-dogs to fans on the terraces.

Now Rowley is hungry for a slice of Super League action. He said: “It won’t be easy but we can get there.

“We’d bring something completely different and that’s good for the sport. It needs something fresh.”

Just on the outskirts of the financial district, the Wolfpack clinched the title with the CN Tower in the background.

Quentin Laulu-togaga’e settled early nerves with a try before a Craig Hall penalty gave Toronto an 8-0 lead at half-time.

Barrow cut the deficit with a Jamie Dallimore penalty but two tries from halfback Blake Wallace and another from Richard Whiting wrapped it up.

Rowley added: “It’s like nothing I’ve experienced in the game and we want to open it up to more people.”

WARRINGTON have announced that coach Tony Smith will leave at the end of the season. The Wire have struggled this season, failing to qualify for the Super 8s, with Smith, 50, describing it as his toughest in nine years at the club. In that time,...