Ashton Sims winning his head-on collision with Widnes Vikings prop Charlie Gubb?

That was physics. Toronto’s Sims outweighs Gubb and quickly returned to his feet after the big hit, while Gubb had to leave the game.

And the Wolfpack’s chances of advancing to the highest level of English rugby league after Saturday’s 20-12 win?

That depends on math. Right now they’re positioned to automatically advance to Super League, but now must travel to Leeds to conclude an eight-team round-robin playoff tournament that determines promotion and relegation. A loss there would complicate the promotion process or, depending on other results, deposit Toronto back into the second division.

But keeping the team relevant to hometown sports fans no matter which division houses them next season? That’s marketing, and the organization sees positive signs in their last scheduled home game of the season.

A season-high 8,281 spectators attended Saturday’s win at Lamport Stadium. And despite uncertainty surrounding a possible promotion to Super League, Wolfpack officials say the club’s off-field growth remains both steady and sustainable.

“The spirit that we created in 2017 doesn’t change,” Wolfpack executive Scott Lidbury said in a recent interview. “It’s just there’s a lot more at stake.”

Lidbury acknowledged the club still fills seats with ticket giveaways but has refined the strategy this season, focusing their freebies on sports fans they’ve already profiled as potential future ticket buyers.

Meanwhile, the club also uses its social media platforms to recruit Global Ambassadors, superfans tasked with promoting the Wolfpack’s brand internationally. Over the past half-decade the U.K.-based Rugby Football League has made cultivating non-traditional rugby league markets a priority, and Lidbury says Toronto’s status as the RFL’s first overseas team makes it the ideal carrier for the message.

But much of the club’s worldwide reach depends on what happens next Friday in Leeds.

A win should move Toronto into third place in the eight-team playoff, securing a spot in Super League for 2019. But with such slim margins among the top four clubs — each of them entered Sunday with four playoff wins — the final rankings could depend on point differential.

Wolfpack head coach Paul Rowley said the prospect of facing Leeds, which won the Super League title just a year ago, left his club with little time to celebrate Saturday’s hard-won victory over Widnes.

“There are so many twists and turns in this story,” said Rowley. “It’s unprecedented. It’s never been like this before at this stage of the middle eight (playoffs). That’s brilliant for the competition. Not really good for gray hairs and wrinkles on our faces.”

While a third-place finish would send Toronto straight to promotion, finishing fourth or fifth sets up still more drama — a one-game playoff with the winner rising and the loser relegated.

That annual showdown is billed as the Million-Pound Game, because Super League clubs receive revenue sharing. The cash would help the Wolfpack — who lost money in their first season — become profitable. So would a home schedule filled with Super League teams that can afford their own travel and lodging, and whose fans provide the Wolfpack a viable market for the travel-and-ticket packages they peddle to opposing supporters.

While players might not compete with those finances in mind, they’re aware of Friday’s stakes.

“It’s the biggest game in the history of the club. The whole season depends on it,” said Wolfpack wing Mason Caton-Brown. “If we win next week, it’s special. A foreign team promoted to Super League. Big game.”

Lidbury says RFL officials have already approved Lamport Stadium for Super League play, though he says the facility will likely need some upgrades.

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But Leeds-based rugby-league aficionado Alex Simmons says Toronto’s on-field product and game-day presentation — with dancers, a DJ and an in-game emcee — provide the disruption Super League needs.

Simmons, who hosts the weekly television show Rugby AM, says the Wolfpack’s presence has rankled some traditionalist fans in mid-sized markets in northern England, where the sport first took root. But he says expanding to major North American cities will help those small-market teams by increasing the RFL’s overall reach and revenue.

“Toronto’s giving to the game, they’re not taking,” Simmons said at Saturday’s game. “(English fans) have got to understand that … If we can deliver two or three more franchises in North America, we can grow the game globally.”