Toronto pass first test

THE expensively assembled international stars of Toronto Wolfpack will not forget their introduction to the Challenge Cup at Halifax yesterday.

Rugby league’s latest and most ambitious expansion outfit prevailed 14-6 against amateur champions Siddal in their first competitive outing but they were twice forced to dredge themselves back to avoid an historic third-round upset.

Wolfpack’s debut had threatened to sink deeper than the touchline mud when Gareth Blackburn kicked the hosts into a first-half lead, then again when the same player was sent in for their only try shortly after the break. Late tries from Greg Worthington and Adam Sidlow dug Toronto out of a hole.

But they had New Zealand star Fuifui Moimo sent off late on a game that ultimately said more about the great talent in the game’s true heartland than the glamorous quest to send it spinning around the globe.

Toronto’s League 1 campaign begins at London Skolars next weekend.