As rivalries go, Leigh and Toronto is a difficult one for non rugby league fans to understand.

For a start, they've never even played each other and there's the Atlantic Ocean between them. One's a small market town in Lancashire, the other's one of the world's great multi-cultural cities.

But on Sunday, these two favourites to finish top of the Betfred Championship meet at Leigh Sports Village and it promises to be an explosive encounter.

On the eve of the 2016 season, Paul Rowley resigned as Leigh coach. It was a move which came as a huge shock - especially to Centurions owner Derek Beaumont and the club's supporters.

Neil Jukes, previously Rowley's right-hand man, was elevated to the role of head coach. But when Leigh lost their opening game of the season at Batley, there were fears that Rowley's departure could have done irreparable damage to the club's promotion chances.

However, Jukes went on to enjoy an extraordinarily successful first season in charge, guiding the Centurions to the top of the Championship and then taking the club back to Super League for the first time since 2005 after a superb run in the Super 8 qualifiers.

As Jukes was busy establishing himself as a senior coach in his own right, Rowley was recruited by the new Toronto Wolfpack franchise who were busily planning for their first season in League One in 2017. Rowley, who started his professional career as a player at his hometown club as a teenager, signed several former Centurions and they ripped through League One on their way to claiming promotion to the Championship.

With their eye-catching logo, distinctive kits and clever PR offensive, Toronto established themselves as many rugby league fans' second team. Their games were shown live on Premier Sports in the UK and because they were generally broadcast late on a Saturday night, they built a cult following. Many rugby league journalists championed the Wolfpack's cause and they attracted the kind of publicity which Super League clubs could only dream of.

With Leigh relegated from Super League following a defeat to Catalans Dragons in the Million Pound Game, talk inevitably turned to when they would finally meet Toronto. There are 14 former Leigh players in the Toronto squad plus several more with connections to the club on the coaching staff. It's also worth mentioning that Leigh signed Toronto's skipper and League One Player of the Year Craig Hall for 2018 so this game is not going to be short of spice.