Round 28 Preview - Friday the 13th: You’ll wish it were only a nightmare (Part 1)

So, it has all come down to this. In some ways, it is fitting that Super League’s four-way battle to avoid relegation will culminate on Friday 13^th. Ironically, for three of Wakefield, Huddersfield, Hull KR and London, it will not be the wretched day that superstition dictates, but one of unequivocal relief. However, for one team, all of their nightmares are realised.

With four sides are level on points with one game to go, it can be easy to lose yourself in a myriad of “what-if’s”. With Wakefield due to play London, this simplifies matters somewhat. For each side, a win equals survival. For London, a loss equals relegation. For the remaining sides, a loss means that their fate is out of their hands and they rely on other results going their way.

We start our preview with the pick of the fixtures, Wakefield vs London which will be televised on Friday night. This is a “million-pound game” of sorts. Or perhaps even greater, in the opinion of London Chairman David Hughes. Of course, both sides have experience of the winner takes all encounter, Wakefield defeating Bradford in 2015 and London defeating Toronto in 2018.

Wakefield, who were promoted to Super League in 1999, have not relinquished their top-flight place since. That’s not to say that they haven’t come close. They finished one place outside of the relegation zone in 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2014. They also finished next to bottom in 2001 and 2011, in years where there was no relegation.

What is remarkable is for three of those years, Wakefield avoided relegation (or a wooden spoon) courtesy of a last-day home win; against Salford in 2001, Warrington in 2003 and Castleford in 2006, consigning Huddersfield, Salford and Castleford respectively to that fate. They also secured a last-day win in 2011 to confirm 11^th spot, albeit as the Crusaders were defeated, they would have avoided bottom in any event. If any Super League club encapsulates a “survivor” mentality, it is Wakefield.

In the early to mid-2000’s, it was almost a given that Wakefield would be battling to survive. In recent years, we have been more used to Wakefield being involved in the race for a play off spot. They have finished 5^th in the previous two seasons and will no doubt curse the fact that the play offs have only this year expanded to include five teams.

2019 represents an unwelcome return to darker times. This season, Wakefield have flirted with the lower echelons of the table, but so far have always managed to hold the likes of London at an arm’s length. As the season reaches its climax, that buffer has evaporated, and Wakefield find themselves off the bottom of the table on points difference alone. 

Wakefield suffered a dip in the middle of the season, characterised by abject performances. Their last two performances provide encouragement with close defeats against Wigan and Warrington, two of the sides at the top end of the table. Wakefield will no doubt be kicking themselves that they could not turn one of these into wins and have their Super League status already secured.

I am not a professional sportsperson and do not know how they will approach their match against London. Will they look at the club’s Super League history in surviving on the final day as motivation? Personally, I am unsure whether that is relevant. Will Chris Chester encourage his players by highlighting that, on paper, they have the best possible fixture to secure their survival? Time will only tell if and how Wakefield will handle the pressure on their shoulders.

The opposite scenario rings true for London. The pressure is far less. Relegation was expected for them. I did not see a pre-season prediction which said they would survive. Many said that they would not compete. Some even said that they would not win a single game. They confounded the latter of those predictions on the first Sunday of the season, with a comprehensive victory against Friday’s opponents.

The idea that London would go into the final game of the season with their fate in their own hands was incomprehensible at the start of the season. The idea that London could finish as high as 9^th was similarly incomprehensible. As for the idea that London could defeat Wigan, Leeds and St Helens (twice), the only sides presently in Super League who have won the championship, that would have been the stuff of fiction.

But this is not fiction, this is very much a reality. Danny Ward has done an incredible job with London. He has moulded a side with a lower budget than all in Super League, littered with local players. This side is not even close to being the most talented, but you would go far to find a side that works harder for each other, a side that will never give up, never accept their pre-written fate and continue to confound all. If London do survive, then Danny Ward must be a coach of the season contender along with Salford’s Ian Watson.

That never-say-die attitude was demonstrated perfectly in their victory at Hull KR. They were under three minutes from relegation and had to go 100m to score and keep their hopes alive. Then, Ryan Morgan broke down the wing. He did not throw a wild, speculative pass to Kieron Dixon. Instead, he remained patient. London played the set of six sensibly and captain Jay Pitts crashed over for the winner.

That win will only heighten London’s belief that they can survive. All they need is one more win and they have done the impossible. They too will be pleased that this fixture is against Wakefield, a side that they have beaten twice already this season. Danny Ward will no doubt hammer this message home. You have beaten Wakefield twice already, you can do it again.

All of this is not bad for a side that many suggested last season would not even make the middle 8’s or, in Garry Schofield’s case, predicted would face a battle to maintain their Championship status. 

Now, they are 80 minutes away from achieving their goal of keeping Super League rugby in the capital in 2020 (and an English Super League side further south than Warrington). At various points this season, we have all thought that London will simply fade away, but they have not. I for one am certainly not foolish enough to write them off now.

Check back here tomorrow for part 2 of this blog, where our focus shifts to the other two relegation-threatened teams, Hull KR and Huddersfield.