The final round of the regular Kingstone Press Championship season takes place this weekend and two teams will battle it out for the final Qualifiers position.
With Hull Kingston Rovers, London Broncos and Featherstone Rovers already confirming their Qualifiers places, both Halifax and Toulouse Olympique have the chance to take fourth spot and go on to fight for promotion to the Betfred Super League.
In Round 22, Toulouse managed to keep their Qualifiers hopes alive when they narrowly beat league leader’s Hull KR 30-31 at the KCOM Craven Park. Coach Sylvain Houles said, “It was a pretty huge performance against Hull KR last Sunday, in terms of what we did as a group going over there and getting the two points.
“At half-time we were down 20-6 and it’s rare that we’d get back in to a game but we did. The boys were positive at half-time and we had the right attitude to come back in to the game.
🉠TO XIII v Featherstone, c'est ce samedi (22/07) à Blagnac (18h30) !
— Toulouse Olympique (@TOXIII) July 17, 2017
🎟 Billetterie : https://t.co/XA39ciohIm (tarifs entre 5 et 20€) pic.twitter.com/v57cI4RLvc
“They tried to find some errors in their defence and finalised on them and our defence was outstanding, we’re strong in that area.
“The team loved playing at the KCOM Craven Park, there was a big crowd and the Hull KR fans were great with our players and our team really embraced that.
“It was great to get the win after four losses, we were not diminished or down but we learnt a lot from those games and Hull KR was a must-win game for us and the boys did it.”
🇫🇷 Le groupe Toulousain pour affronter Featherstone samedi
— Toulouse Olympique (@TOXIII) July 20, 2017
â–¶ https://t.co/IHS4ajSL5c
ðŸ‡¬ðŸ‡§ï¸ Toulouse squad to face @FevRovers pic.twitter.com/O83u7UH9k9
On Saturday, Toulouse welcome Featherstone Rovers to the Stade Ernest Argeles (6.30pm) and Houles says it’s all down to them this weekend. He continued, “Everything goes down to the last game of the season. We don’t have everything in our hands but we can control the game against Featherstone on Saturday and we’re going to concentrate on that.
“We’re concentrating on ourselves, see what we can do and make sure we come on the right side of the result.
“We’ll then turn our attention to looking very closely at the Halifax v Hull KR score on Sunday.”
There's a game on at The Shay on Sunday
— Halifax RLFC (@Halifax_RLFC) July 16, 2017
KR are coming on the Twenty-Third
Big game on at The Shay on Sunday
Spread The Word ðŸ‰ðŸ”µâšªï¸ðŸ”µâšªï¸ pic.twitter.com/N9l3iEXQqW
Halifax have secured two huge wins in the last few weeks against Toulouse in Round 21 and then an impressive 8-28 win away at Featherstone last weekend. Coach Richard Marshall said, “I thought we performed really well, we put two halves of rugby together and we kept our discipline and when you do that you usually come out on top.
“We went away really happy with our performance, in fact it’s the best we’ve played over the last few weeks so it’s something to build on for this week.”
Looking ahead to their game against Hull KR, Marshall continued, “We’ve got another big game this week and I should imagine they’ll want to bounce back.
“They’re a well-drilled, well-coached, competitive team and they certainly won’t hold back this week.
“We expect a tough game and we need a tough game, the harder games are the better we seem to play.
"I’m the same type of player I was @Saints1890 but I’m probably in better nick now!" @MoseMasoe's first interview: https://t.co/5OJOiX6jfl pic.twitter.com/HDkSMxqQmJ
— Hull Kingston Rovers (@hullkrofficial) July 19, 2017
“We’ve improved over the last three weeks and I expect us to improve this week too.
“It’s certainly an exciting end to the season and the fixtures have fell favourable. There’s not much between any of the teams going into the last game and I think that’s very good for the competition.
“It’d be a great achievement and fully deserved if we’re fortunate enough to get in the Qualifiers but we can only concentrate on ourselves this week and if we slip up, Toulouse can overtake us.”
🉠A strong session down at Tong today ahead of this weekend's game with @Swinton_Lions. pic.twitter.com/JALxR3gFU0
— Bradford Bulls (@OfficialBullsRL) July 20, 2017
Across the rest of Kingstone Press Championship, London Broncos will be aiming to finish the regular season on a high with a victory over Batley Bulldogs and Dewsbury Rams could move closer to Sheffield Eagles in the table when they come head to head on Sunday.
Derby day for Oldham RLFC when they welcome Rochdale Hornets and Bradford Bulls take on Swinton Lions in a bottom of the table clash.
All fixtures kick-off on Sunday, July 23 at 3.00pm unless stated.
