Toronto Wolfpack began their Qualifiers campaign with a hard-earned win against Halifax, though it came at a cost after they were pushed all the way by their part-time opposition.

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The Canadian side were comfortably the best team in the Championship this year, ending the regular season with 21 wins from 23 games. Promotion to Super League is secured only via a top-three finish in the Qualifiers, and this was a bruising opening to that seven‑game mini-league.

Andy Ackers and Andrew Dixon scored the game’s only tries either side of half-time, but injuries to the wingers Matty Russell and Liam Kay – whose season could be over – caused concern with Toronto’s first acid test of their promotion credentials on Saturday when they host Hull KR in Canada.

“They’re two of our most consistent performers,” the Toronto coach, Paul Rowley, said of the wingers. “But to get two points on the board in the first round is really important.”

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Toronto’s spend is around four times that of Halifax but, as Richard Marshall’s side have shown many times, such a financial gap is no hindrance to them. Indeed, had one or two key moments gone another way here, with Halifax pressing hard while trailing 8-0 for large periods of the second half, it could have been a different story.

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Instead, Dixon’s try three minutes from the end meant Halifax start this year’s Qualifiers with defeat. “We’re not just here to make up the numbers,” Marshall said. “We came up just short today but there wasn’t a lot in it.”

In an attritional first half Ackers burrowed his way over from close range five minutes before the interval to open the scoring. It was not until the hour before the next points were scored, a penalty from the boot of Gareth O’Brien. And though Halifax continued to work hard, Toronto had the final say when Dixon ensured victory.

Halifax Moss; Saltonstall, Tyrer, Heaton, Sharp; Murrell, Johnston; Maher, Kaye, Fairbank, Grady, Butler, Barber. Interchange Wood, Moore, Morris, Baldwinson.

Toronto O’Brien; Russell, Stanley, Wheeler, Kay; McCrone, Wallace; Sims, Beswick, Lussick, Dixon, Paterson, Emmitt. Interchange Buchanan, Bussey, Ackers, Sidlow.

Tries Ackers, Dixon. Goals O’Brien 3.

Referee Chris Kendall. Attendance 1,774.