Rugby league’s new darlings Toronto Wolfpack will do battle with their hardest opponent ever this Sunday in the Challenge Cup.
The Canadian club heads to the AJ Bell Stadium to take on Super League side the Salford Red Devils, who currently sit in third place on the Super League ladder.
Toronto played Hull FC in a pre-season friendly but this will be their toughest competitive fixture to date in their brief history.
The Wolfpack have unsurprisingly made short work of League 1 so far – five wins from five games, 310 points scored and only 37 conceded. That’s average of scoring 62 a match and only conceding 7.4.
They’ve also excelled in the Challenge Cup, knocking off London Broncos 30-26 in the capital. The scalp of the Broncos, a full-time team playing in the division above Toronto, was one to savour. But Salford will be a different beast.
They are a team that is enjoying a good season, that has attacking threats across the park and who will be keen to burst the Wolfpack bubble. When you can bring former Kangaroo and NSW Origin half Todd Carney off the bench, and have six internationals in your squad, you’re going OK. In total 21 places and two divisions separate Salford and Toronto in rugby league’s rankings.
The Cup tie also brings together two of the most promising young English coaches in the game – Red Devils boss Ian Watson and Toronto coach Paul Rowley. Both coaches have got their sides playing an entertaining, attack style of rugby league that is easy on the eye. Both have confidence and momentum with them.
Rowley respects his opponents: “They play really tough but, more importantly, when they’ve got the ball they’re really hard to defend against,” he told The Sportsman.
“They execute shapes very, very well. They’re a good team to watch. If you’re going to support a team then Salford is a team you’d like to support.”
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Rowley is adamant that this game is a bonus, an add-on that is separate to their primary goal of gaining promotion this year. “I would imagine going into that game we’ll be 20 places below them in the rankings, so it’s a huge ask. But we’ll enjoy the occasion. We’ll be more interested in the performance than the result for obvious reasons.”
Oldham upset Hull KR last year in the Challenge Cup in the case of a Championship side beating a Super League one. But a League 1 outfit defeating a Super League club is virtually unheard of. But the Wolfpack are not your average League 1 side.
“Obviously Championship’s beaten Super League but it’s usually a team that’s low on confidence and playing at the bottom of the Super League,” Rowley said.
“I’m not so sure I can remember a team at the top of Super League being knocked off. Again, we’ll approach every game to put our best foot forward and it will be no different [on Sunday]. It’s about the performance for us.”
Adding more grist to the mill is the fact that Salford and Toronto had a competitive training session against each other in pre-season, and that ex-Leigh coach Rowley lives in the Salford area.
“We fared really well in it to be fair,” Rowley said. “I know ‘Watto’ (Ian Watson) enjoyed it because it gave them a bit of a kick up the backside in terms of defending shapes as well as we threw quite a bit at them. They kicked on from that, so it was good for them and good for us, which is good.
“I live in Salford as well, in Worsley, so it’s good to see. The one thing you don’t get in a training run is the physicality and it’s quite evident at the start and through the fame they have really physical periods throughout the game. Salford are a tough side.”
Toronto want to be in Super League and competing amongst the big boys in rugby league. They get the chance to show what they can do this weekend.
