I completely agree with you. Leigh have had too many brainfarts in this middle 8's not to be considered for automatic promotion yet were good enough to spank catalans.

I think the middle 8's IS the best competition by some margin. HKR have done their fans proud by grinding out 5 wins and London have played some fantastic Rugby.

BUT, If Leigh beat Halifax London need to beat Widnes to qualify for the MPG.

3 teams, Widnes, Catalans and Leigh can still be promoted automatically. If HKR make it 6/6 points difference could be huge and London v Leigh could be a MPG in itself !

You cant force any club to field their strongest 17 and if any club has achieved it's seasons objectives, they would be mad not to be thinking of the future ie, resting players who may have a knock.

Having said that, these are all professional sportsmen and every club will still be trying to win every game, it's just that the "lucky" ones can afford to rotate their squad.
It's the same at the top of SL, with Cas and Leeds both able to rotate their squads, which may have a significant effect on who makes it to the semi finals.

No point bleating about it, it's just how it is (and always will be).

HKR's squad for Friday is.....missing a few familiar names, shall we say.

bet the rfl will be happy with that rover squad announcement lol, quite within their own right to pick who they want now they have done the job of being promoted


if catalan dont win friday night they dont deserve to be in superleague

Most of the players left out hare or are going to have surgery on injuries. They have been playing needled up for the past 4-6 weeks. Why would you continue to play once what you wanted to achieve has been achieved?

The Leigh and Widnes fans wont be happy

Cue the "they're bringing the game into disrepute... showing a lack of integrity....not doing us any favours" claptrap

And there across the English Channel th RFL see the Garden of Eden, where before too long (hopefully by 2019) we can have the Catalans vs Toulouse local derby twice or three times a year (including Magic Weekend). Moreover the RFL imagine the euros will start pouring into a new TV deal, which involves telecasting all Catalans and Toulouse home games (to be shown on Sky, hence an improved Sky TV deal for the RFL) and Avignon joining League 1 or the Championship in 2019, with homes games televised on French TV.

Maybe the RFL should move from Red Hall Lane to Rue Aime Ramond in Carcassonne and concentrate on the A61 corridor from Toulouse in the West to Narbonne in the East.

If Widnes and Leigh have a problem with Hull KR they should have beaten them themselves. They had Super League advantage over a Championship team. As it is, tough.

100% this