Rugby: It’s hard to be humble when you’re 25-1, but Wolfpack have to try

With 20 straight wins under their belt, there is little drama for the Toronto Wolfpack as the Betfred Championship regular season wraps up this weekend.

The transatlantic rugby league team clinched first place in the second-tier Championship standings back on July 21, with a win over Widnes. That was five games ago.

Toulouse Olympique, York City Knights, Leigh Centurions and Featherstone Rovers have secured the other four playoff berths, and there could be some movement among them this weekend before the five start battling for the lone promotion place up for grabs in the top-tier Super League.

Toronto (25-1-0) hosts fourth-place Leigh (18-8-0) at Lamport Stadium on Saturday and second-place Toulouse (19-7-0) plays at No. 5 Featherstone (17-9-0). Third-place York (18-7-1) visits No. 8 Halifax (10-15-1) on Sunday.

While there may be no suspense over the Wolfpack’s finish, coach Brian McDermott is focused on maintaining his team’s winning ways ahead of the playoffs.

“It’s hard to manage a loss,” he said. “When you lose and if you get beat when you think you should have won, you’ve got to manage that.

“If we play poorly against Leigh, that takes some turning around for the playoffs,” he cautioned.

McDermott says his word for the week has been humility.

“Just have the humility to know that as good as you are and as good as you think you are and as many games as we’ve won, there’s a game out there that’s going to put you on the ropes,” he said. “And if it’s a shock to you that we’re on the ropes and you’re sulking because we’re on the ropes, you will lose. I’m really interested in what our attitude’s like against Leigh,” he added.

Toronto is 4-0-0 all-time against Leigh. The Wolfpack won 14-8 when they met in Leigh in February.

Leigh saw its five-match winning streak snapped last weekend in a 24-23 loss to York.