For nearly two years, Toronto Wolfpack have been edging towards a place in the Super League. On Saturday they might finally seal it. This time last year, almost everyone assumed they would beat London Broncos to clinch their seat at the top table. But like a runaway horse leading the Grand National, they froze at the final hurdle. Again, Brian McDermott’s team of NRL and Super League veterans are up against underdogs who have nothing to lose. This time Featherstone Rovers are standing in their way.

Despite their superb performance at Leigh and impressive win at York, no one outside the rhubarb triangle can have expected Featherstone to win at Toulouse last Sunday, let alone by a 36-12 scoreline. Now for Toronto in the Championship play-off final. Surely they cannot win four away matches in four consecutive weekends against the four teams who finished above them in the league? That would be an astonishing achievement, especially for a club with a mixture of full-time imports, part-time locals and borrowed bodies.

It would be strangely fitting if Featherstone reached the Super League now, just as the division is preparing to open up to a whole new continent, given that they were shoved into the second division to make way for London Broncos when the competition was formed back in 1995.

Featherstone winning promotion would be a mixed blessing for the other clubs in the league. Featherstone would take up London’s “bound to finish bottom” role and their large away followings would be welcome across the M62 corridor. However, a win for Featherstone would cost the 11 other clubs well over £100,000 in TV money. If Featherstone go up, they would take their share of money from Sky, whereas Toronto have vowed to generate their own TV deal. Far more importantly, if the Wolfpack do not go up, the league would miss out on the extraordinary opportunity to reach 20 million people and a whole new sports media market in Canada.

Toronto Wolfpack won 26 of their 27 league games this season. Photograph: Vaughn Ridley/Rex/Shutterstock

So, who are these Featherstone heroes from Post Office Road who could put a giant spanner in the Wolfpack’s works? Super League watchers will recognise the pony-tailed Ashton Golding at full-back, seemingly persona non grata at Leeds not long after being the next big thing. They have former France half-back Dane Chisholm, a mercurial talent often accused of doing his own thing at Bradford but now harnessing his creativity for the good of the team. Alongside him is youngster Callum McLelland, on loan from Leeds, who was playing rugby union in Scotland last year.

Second-rower Josh Walters scored the winning try in a Super League Grand Final not long ago, when he was a rising talent at Leeds. And there’s Championship stalwarts such as John Davies, consistently good, sometimes excellent, but who looks too small to play prop in the big league. The same was said of London’s Eddie Battye this time last year. Given a chance, Davies could shine in the top flight.

Papua New Guinea prop Wellington Albert and former NRL hooker Cameron King offer exotic flavour – although Rovers have pulled off these play-off miracles without King, who has been missing due to concussion. Masterminding the project is rookie head coach Ryan Carr, who is quickly becoming a hot property. The 31-year-old Australian is now also part of the coaching team at Featherstone’s partner club, Leeds Rhinos.

Understandably, Featherstone have been planning for life in the second tier next season, signing former Hull Kingston Rover, Thomas Minns, and proven Championship performers Louis Jouffret, Dean Parata and Alec Susino. Pull off another miracle on Saturday and Carr will have to go shopping in a different market on Monday morning.

Having finished fifth in the Championship, Fev were not given much of a hope in the play-offs. However, only Toronto and Toulouse scored more points or conceded fewer in the league. Like Salford, they can beat anyone when they hit top gear. Yes, Toronto won 26 of their 27 games all season. But the final is uncannily similar to last year, when Toronto’s promotion party was quashed in extraordinary fashion by outsiders London Broncos in a tryless slug-fest. It couldn’t happen again, could it?

Clubcall: Salford Red Devils

Jackson Hastings celebrates with his Salford teammates after scoring against Castleford. Photograph: Richard Sellers/PA

Were Salford to win the Super League play-off semi-final at Wigan on Friday night, it would rival Featherstone for story of the season. Salford are no mugs. Ian Watson’s side are packed with experienced Super League players reaching the peaks of their careers, while maverick playmaker Jackson Hastings brings out the best in the mere mortals around him.

The pack is filled with low-profile warriors in the form of their lives: Adam Walker, back from a drugs ban; George Griffin; captain Lee Mossop; and the Hull-bound Josh Jones – surely the first player to list Taunton RFC and the Great Britain squad on his CV. They are as good as any in the competition. Make it to Old Trafford for the Grand Final and Watson will deserve a statue in Salford’s Hall of Fame, whatever St Helens have in store for them.

Foreign Quota

The Middle East-Africa Championship takes place this week in Lagos, with Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Morocco in action. Nigeria have just launched a nine-team league and the best of that competition have been joined by London Broncos’ Lagos-born prop Sadiq Adebiyi and three amateurs from England, while Ghana have two players from Brixton Bulls and Coventry Bears’ semi-pro Reece Connor Rance alongside their domestic squad. Five of the Cameroon’s six clubs – including eight from Yaounde’s Bulls RL – are represented in their squad, while fallen African force Morocco have four semi-pros from France in their player pool. The final is on Saturday.

Goal-line drop-out

Rugby league’s international eligibility rules have come in for some stick over the years but the RLIF can feel pretty pleased with their decision to allow players to return to their tier-two nations having played for Australia, New Zealand or England. World Rugby, union’s governing body, have refused to follow suit, leaving Tonga at the World Cup without several players who left them to pursue heroic status and fortune with the All Blacks.

Meanwhile, the NRL have named Italy’s Nathan Brown and Paul Vaughan, Lebanon’s Mitchell Moses and former Wales forward Tyson Frizell in the Australia Prime Minister’s XIII to play Fiji on 12 October. Hopefully they will all return to their second-tier nations for Rugby League World Cup in 2021 if not selected for the Kangaroos.

Fifth and last

I missed the Toulouse v Featherstone game as I was on my annual week in a South Devon cottage with no internet, Sky or mobile coverage. It reminded me how important the BBC is to our game. On the long drive down I was able to listen to three hours of coverage of Salford v Castleford, flicking between the excellent broadcasts by Dave Woods on 5 Live Sports Extra and Mark Wilson on Talksport2. My wife was thrilled. On Friday night, Saints-Wigan on 5 Live accompanied us through the winding lanes from Slapton Sands. And on Sunday teatime I was able to enjoy extensive highlights of both on BBC1. Pity that the Beeb’s TV coverage should come nearly three days after the game.

• This is an article by Gavin Willacy. Follow Gavin on Twitter

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