Catalans Dragons and Toulouse Olympique will finish at the top of the Betfred Super League and Championship respectively and will each receive a League Leaders’ Shield. An achievement which represents a historic marker for French Rugby League.
The Dragons will be presented with the Super League Shield this Saturday, which they confirmed with a thrilling golden-point victory against St Helens in the Magic Weekend last Saturday, when they face Huddersfield Giants at the Stade Gilbert Brutus in Perpignan.
Toulouse Olympique will be presented with the Betfred Championship League Leaders’ Shield after their last fixture of the regular season, at Newcastle Thunder on Saturday September 18.
Toulouse have a 100% record from the 13 fixtures they have played this season, all in England, and the postponement of this weekend’s scheduled home fixture against York City Knights under the Covid Fixture Protocols means that they cannot be overtaken on win points percentage.
That also guarantees them a bye through the first round of the Betfred Championship Play-Offs and home advantage in the second round – and the RFL has today confirmed that their semi-final will be played at the Stade Ernest Wallon on Saturday October 2, with a 4.15pm kick-off local time (3.15pm BST).
Featherstone Rovers, who are now guaranteed to finish second in the table, whatever the results of their remaining two league fixtures and have therefore also earned a bye through the first round of the play-offs, will host the second Betfred Championship semi-final at their Millennium Stadium later that afternoon (5.30pm Kick-off BST).
Sky Sports will show all FIVE matches in this year’s Betfred Championship Play-Offs, culminating in the Million Pound Game on Sunday October 10 which will determine promotion to the 2022 Betfred Super League (6pm kick-off BST).
Their coverage will begin on Saturday September 25, with two elimination play-offs between the teams who finish third, fourth, fifth and sixth in the Betfred Championship table.