Relegation to stay in Super League this season
Super League clubs have decided to retain relegation this year after all.
There was a plan to promote two teams from the Championship and run with a 14-team Super League in 2022 before splitting into two divisions of 10 but the move failed to receive enough support.
It means promotion and relegation will go ahead as planned and there will still be a 12-team Super League in 2022.
The news will be a blow to the survival hopes of Leigh, who are adrift at the foot of the table after losing all 15 matches so far this year.
The Centurions have had three matches postponed so far due to Covid-19 outbreaks among their scheduled opponents.
Toulouse are favourites to replace them, having won all 11 matches so far despite having to play them all in England due to the impact of the pandemic and the need for part-time clubs to go into quarantine on their return from France.
Promotion from the Championship will be determined by a top-six play-off culminating in the Million Pound Game.
Meanwhile, the 2022 Betfred Challenge Cup final will be held at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the Rugby Football League has announced.
In a change to tradition, the game’s showpiece event will move away from Wembley, which has acted as hosts since 1929, before returning to the national stadium in 2023.
In another change, the final will revert to a May date in 2022 and the RFL has also announced a two-year extension to Betfred’s sponsorship of the men’s, women’s and wheelchair cups.
The 62,850-capacity Tottenham stadium, which was opened on the site of the old White Hart Lane in April 2019, was due to host an Ashes Test in 2020 before the series was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
It will now host the 121st Challenge Cup final, marking the 125th anniversary of the first in 1897, and also the final of the 1895 Cup, the knockout competition for non-Super League clubs, on Saturday May 28.
