The Play-offs Part 1 - League 1 Promotion/Shield Finals

The Play-offs Part One - League 1 Promotion/Shield Finals

Just three weeks after the Challenge Cup Final the end of season play-offs are almost upon us and the first team to be promoted by this means will be decided on Saturday when Rochdale Hornets travel to France to take on Toulouse Olympique in the League 1 Play-off Final.

However, the loser of this first game will get a second bite at promotion as they will join Barrow, Doncaster and York in the second round of the promotion play-offs.
The 2016 season is now over for eight of the League 1 clubs but this weekend also sees the inaugural League 1 Shield Final take place at Kingston Park, Newcastle, where Newcastle Thunder will entertain North Wales Crusaders for the bottom seven’s consolation prize.

LEAGUE 1 SUPER 8’s PROMOTION FINAL -

TOULOUSE OLYMPIQUE vs ROCHDALE HORNETS

(Stade Ernest Argeles, Saturday, 17 September – 15:30pm CET)

Toulouse Olympique

The French side have had their critics this season and it was hard to believe their statement earlier in the campaign when they came out and said they were definitely not a full time club playing in a part time division.

They topped the regular season table comfortably with the only blot coming at the Spotland Stadium where a 28-all draw meant they couldn’t complete the regular campaign with a 100% record.  They had no problems however in completing that feat in their seven Super 8’s matches.  The closest they came to defeat was a narrow four point victory away to Hunslet in Round 6 and will be heavy favourites to claim the win on Saturday afternoon.

Their fantastic season was bettered earlier this week when they snapped up three awards at the end of season ceremony on Monday night where Johnathon Ford was named League 1’s Player of the Year, Sylvain Houles the League 1 Coach of the Year and the club was crowned League 1 Club of the Year.

SUPER 8’s RESULTS:

Round 1 – Toulouse Olympique 40-4 Keighley Cougars

Round 2 – Toulouse Olympique 46-16 York City Knights

Round 4 – Doncaster RLFC 18-38 Toulouse Olympique

Round 5 – Toulouse Olympique 46-6 Rochdale Hornets

Round 3 – London Skolars 14-58 Toulouse Olympique (postponed to August Bank Holiday weekend)

Round 6 – Hunslet Hawks 12-16 Toulouse Olympique

Round 7 – Toulouse Olympique 44-22 Barrow Raiders

Rochdale Hornets

The Hornets only claimed second spot in the final Super 8’s table last weekend having been comfortably four points clear of third placed York at the time of the split.  But it was Barrow who looked like the side who could pip them to a place in this weekend’s Promotion Final.  A 34-18 victory over Hunslet was enough to give them a two point gap in second place and chance of claiming that first promotion spot.

Three defeats out of their seven Super 8’s games is not ideal preparation ahead of the Final.  Those defeats came in Round 1 at Barrow, Round 4 at home to York and Round 5 in Toulouse which meant that they had to win on Sunday to secure runners the up spot.

Big plusses for coach Alan Kilshaw is that his side have been relatively consistent all season, Danny Yates was handed the League 1 Young Player of the Year award on Monday night and they have already taken a point off Toulouse earlier in the season in a game they felt they should have won.

SUPER 8’s RESULTS:

Round 1 – Barrow Raiders 34-12 Rochdale Hornets

Round 2 – London Skolars 28-38 Rochdale Hornets

Round 3 – Rochdale Hornets 18-4 Keighley Cougars

Round 4 – Rochdale Hornets 16-36 York City Knights

Round 5 – Toulouse Olympic 46-6 Rochdale Hornets

Round 6 – Rochdale Hornets 38-22 Doncaster RLFC

Round 7 – Rochdale Hornets 34-18 Hunslet Hawks

MY PREDICTION – Toulouse to win by 18+ points

LEAGUE 1 SHIELD FINAL –

NEWCASTLE THUNDER vs NORTH WALES CRUSADERS

(Kingston Park, Sunday, 18 September – 17:15pm)

Newcastle Thunder

After missing out on the cut for the Super 8’s by just one point to London Skolars Mick Mantelli’s men have made up for any regular season mistakes they may feel they made and successfully breezed through the whole shield campaign with a 100% record of six wins from six.

Big wins came easy for the North East side, particularly in their final three games away to Oxford and Hemel and at home to Coventry scoring 174 points over those three matches alone.  Their toughest result on paper came against South Wales when they came away with only a 12 point victory in Round 2.  Following that was the dress rehearsal to this weekend’s game where they overcame the Crusaders by 16 points winning 30-14.

Newcastle had last weekend off and after some decent preparation they should be too strong for their Welsh opponents and be able to cap off a fine end to the 2016 season.

SHIELD RESULTS:

Round 1 – Newcastle Thunder 50-24 University of Gloucestershire All Golds

Round 2 – South Wales Scorpions 16-28 Newcastle Thunder

Round 3 – Newcastle Thunder 30-14 North Wales Crusaders

Round 4 – Oxford RLFC 18-62 Newcastle Thunder

Round 5 – Hemel Stags 10-66 Newcastle Thunder

Round 6 – Newcastle Thunder 46-10 Coventry Bears

Round 7 – BYE

North Wales Crusaders

The Crusaders were up against it from the off this season when they suffered financial difficulties which saw a number of their players head off to pastures new, notably Jamie Dallimore to Barrow and Jono Smith to Rochdale, and results suffered early on.  But they managed regroup for the Shield and fight off a determined Coventry Bears that were desperate to gatecrash the season finale.

A narrow home defeat to the Bears in Round 3 was hard to take for Crusaders, particularly as it came the week after losing away to Newcastle, but after having a much needed week off they managed to retain that three point gap between themselves and Coventry they had prior to the split and earn their place in Sunday’s Final.

North Wales did claim a victory over Newcastle early in the regular season, winning 24-20 at Kingston Park, but after how this campaign has panned out for both sides it’s going to be a tough ask for them to travel up to Newcastle and win in front of a passionate North East crowd.

SHIELD RESULTS:

Round 1 – North Wales Crusaders 30-26 South Wales Scorpions

Round 2 – Hemel Stags 18-42 North Wales Crusaders

Round 3 – Newcastle Thunder 30-14 North Wales Crusaders

Round 4 – North Wales Crusaders 28-30 Coventry Bears

Round 5 – BYE

Round 6 – North Wales Crusaders 18-4 University of Gloucestershire All Golds

Round 7 – Oxford RLFC 6-37 North Wales Crusaders

MY PREDICTION – Newcastle to win by 12+ points