Ahead of Saturday’s massive Qualifiers clash between Salford Red Devils and Toronto Wolfpack we delve into some interesting facts behind the fixture.
Super League vs Championship
While the teams are now competing in The Qualifiers, Salford have been in Super League throughout the 2018 season while Toronto are fighting to earn promotion from the Championship.
Salford have lost to a Championship team this season, however. The Red Devils suffered defeat at the hands of Leigh Centurions at the Leigh Sports Village in Round Five of the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup. However, last week’s victory over Halifax got them back to winning ways against Championship opposition.
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The Wolfpack have faced Super League opposition on three previous occasions but are yet to earn a victory. They fell to the Red Devils in last year’s Ladbrokes Challenge Cup before Warrington Wolves dumped them out of this season’s competition. Most recently, they suffered a narrow Qualifiers defeat to Hull Kingston Rovers at Lamport Stadium.
Home vs Away
Salford Red Devils’ home form has been fantastic since the start of June winning three of their last four games at the The Salford Stadium with a big victory over Leeds in between a double over Widnes Vikings.
This weekend, Ian Watson’s side will be looking to win three consecutive home games for the first time since May 2017 when the Red Devils beat Widnes Vikings, Hull Kingston Rovers and Catalans Dragons.
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Toronto Wolfpack will be travelling to England for the second time in this Qualifiers campaign following a Round One victory over Halifax RLFC. While a lot is made of the travel aspect of Toronto’s schedule they have actually won each of their last eight away games plus two games at a venue away from Lamport Stadium.
In fact, the Wolfpack have actually dropped more points at home than away throughout the 2018 season. Toronto drew against Barrow and lost to London on the road but are now unbeaten away from home since the beginning of March.
Try-scoring
Junior Sa’u has been in fine try-scoring form in recent weeks powering his way over for back-to-back doubles. Sa’u scored three tries in similar fashion against Widnes and Halifax before pulling off a fantastic catch to round off Salford’s scoring last week at the MBi Shay Stadium.
Both Rob Lui and Niall Evalds fantastic try-scoring runs stalled last weekend despite the Red Devils crossing for twelve scores at Halifax. Evalds has still crossed for four tries in his last four outings for Salford while Lui has scored three tries in last four outings. Jackson Hastings has also notched three tries in his opening four games in a Red Devils shirt.
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The Wolfpack’s most frequent try-scorer in The Qualifiers may come as a surprise as Andrew Dixon has scored three tries in Toronto’s opening three games. They have had seven other try-scorers in The Qualifiers so far with Andy Ackers, Nick Rawsthorne, Blake Wallace, Gareth O’Brien, Josh McCrone and Mason Caton-Brown also going over.
Welcome the Wolfpack!
Tickets for our next home game against Toronto Wolfpack on Saturday 8th September are available to purchase at the Club Ticket Office, over the phone on 0161 786 1570 or SAVE MONEY by buying online, just CLICK HERE.
