Leeds and KR to battle out final game to decide who they face in Play-offs

Thanks to Warrington Wolves’ win at Castleford Tigers last night, both Leeds Rhinos and Hull Kingston Rovers are now assured of a spot in the top six, but the pair will battle it out in the final game of the regular league season tonight to decide who they will face in the first round of the play-offs.

If Cas had won at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle against the Wolves, tonight’s match-up at Emerald Headingley stadium would have been a ‘winner takes all’ affair for the final play-off place.

However, their defeat means that whoever does come out on top at Headingley will finish in fifth-place and accordingly will face Wigan Warriors away from home in the first ‘Eliminator game’ of the play-offs. That match will be at the DW stadium on Thursday, September 23.

Meanwhile, tonight’s losers will finish in sixth – the final play-off spot – so will travel to take on Warrington in the other eliminator with that one taking place a day later, on Friday, September 24.

So, while there is less pressure on the Rhinos and the Rovers, their meeting certainly isn’t a ‘dead rubber’ and there is still plenty to play for in what promises to be a thrilling game. Both will undoubtedly want to build some momentum heading into the play-offs where they will hope to begin the ‘road to Old Trafford’.

Team News

In his pre-match press conference on Thursday morning – prior to Castleford’s defeat to Warrington – Leeds’ head coach Richard Agar admitted that if his side were successful in reaching the play-offs, they may get some bodies back.

Now that they are in the top six for sure, that will be music to the ears of the Rhinos’ faithful in the coming weeks however at the moment, they are still missing numerous squad members for the meeting with KR.

Liam Sutcliffe, Luke Gale, Callum McLelland, King Vuniyayawa, Alex Mellor (all knees), Jack Walker (foot), Mikolaj Oledzki (toe) and Zane Tetevano (suspension) are all absent from Agar’s 21-man squad.

However, three squad members are back in the equation as Rob Lui and Konrad Hurrell are joined by 17-year-old Morgan Gannon in making a return. For Hurrell, this represents his last ‘hoorah’ at Headingley. Whatever happens in the next few weeks, Leeds will not play at home again this season and he is departing come the end of the campaign.

In KR’s camp, there are two significant injuries to report. Winger Ryan Hall has been an ever-present so far this season but suffered a shoulder injury in last week’s win at home to Castleford so will miss the trip to former club Leeds and possibly the play-offs too. He has however signed a contract until 2023 so the Robins’ fans will see him in action again.

Greg Minikin on the other hand will not be seen in a Rovers shirt again. Having agreed and announced a move to Warrington as of next season, the 26-year-old was forced off with an ACL injury against Castleford. He will miss the rest of this season – including the play-offs – and may even be absent for the Wolves in the early stages of the next campaign.

With those two dropping out of the squad for the trip across Yorkshire, head coach Tony Smith brings in Korbin Sims and 19-year-old academy graduate Tom Whur. The young prop also featured in the victory over the Tigers at Hull College Craven Park.

Head-to-Head

These two clubs are no strangers to one another, and for much of their time together in the top-flight, the Rhinos have been the team coming out on top.

Finishing bottom of the Super League table last season, when there was no relegation due to the withdrawal of Toronto Wolfpack during the COVID-19 Pandemic, KR endured three defeats to Leeds including one in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals.

Heavy 52-10 and 16-41 losses in the league were sandwiched by a 48-18 victory for the Rhinos on their way to lifting the cup. The Robins found themselves 30-0 down at the break that day, and there was no way back as a miserable season was compounded with the end of any hopes of cup glory.

However, this season, Smith’s side have been re-born and have picked up countless impressive and perhaps unexpected wins. One of those came early in the campaign with a 26-6 win over the Rhinos in round 4 of the Super League season.

Kane Linnett grabbed a hat trick of tries and fired out an early warning sign to the rest of the league as to the threat posed by the Rovers. Clearly, that was one that few listened to as KR now find themselves in with a shot at reaching their first ever Grand Final.

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