Championship play-offs: Broadcast schedule for semi-final ties confirmed as race for Super League becomes clearer
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com
Only one of the two play-off semi-final ties in the Championship will be broadcast to a UK audience, with the race for promotion to Super League heating up following the weekend’s action.
League Leaders’ Shield winners Featherstone Rovers and 2nd-placed Toulouse Olympique had already cemented their spot in the last four of the competition with their performances in the regular season, and knew that they would get a semi-final tie on home soil.
Both of their opponents have now been confirmed, with Bradford Bulls and London Broncos progressing through the ‘Eliminator’ ties.
Broadcast Schedule confirmed for Championship play-off semi-finals
Promotion favourites Featherstone will host the Broncos on Sunday – October 8 – at Post Office Road (6.30pm BST KO). That game will be broadcast live on ViaPlay Sports, with their coverage starting at 6pm.
The Nordic-based broadcaster will pull the plug on their Championship coverage at the end of this year after suffering a loss of over £24 million and having to make 25% of their staff redundant.
London stunned Sheffield Eagles 42-0 in their own backyard yesterday to set their trip to Featherstone up. Anything but a Rovers win on Sunday would be a monumental shock, with the Broncos already tasting two heavy defeats against the West Yorkshire outfit this term, by margins of 30 and 44 points respectively. If Fev do win, they’ll be at home in the play-off final.
In the other semi-final tie, Bradford will head to the South of France to take on Toulouse. Interim head coach Lee Greenwood led the Bulls to a 22-8 triumph over York Knights at Odsal last night, and that all-Yorkshire affair was shown live by Viaplay, but their semi-final tie won’t be.
That last-four clash takes place at the Stade Ernest-Wallon on Saturday – October 7 – with a kick-off time of 5pm (BST). The Bulls haven’t been in Super League since 2014.
Bradford inflicted the first of eight defeats in the regular season on Toulouse back in Round 4 with a 28-18 win on home soil. More recently though, across the Channel in Round 16, they were thumped 52-14.
READ NEXT: Championship award nominations confirmed with six clubs represented across three categories
