Castleford Tigers and Hull KR bid for fast start to secure their goals

Granted, often it seems the announcement about this second stage of the season is largely immaterial.

After all, everyone already knows who they will be playing in the seven add-on fixtures and also whether it will be home or away.

It is only when the games actually occur – their scheduled dates – that is left uncertain until now but that, of course, can so often be so crucial.

For instance, in the case of Hull KR, they must be elated with how their fixture list has panned out.

Tim Sheens’ side, let’s not forget, are striving to win promotion back into Super League by any route possible, preferably finishing in the Qualifiers top three to do so automatically, as Leigh Centurions did last term or, if not, by the Million Pound Game.

With that in mind, when you peruse their forthcoming fixtures it is hard to imagine the Australian coach and chairman Neil Hudgell being able to select them better if they had the pick themselves.

Three of their opening four games are against Championship rivals and fixtures they have always known they must win to stand any chance of promotion.

By that token, and having finished top of the division by some margin, the Robins will be targeting six points at least from that opening quartet of matches. Get those points in the bag and momentum is there to push on with.

But if they could also win the other game in that opening sequence – the televised encounter at Leigh in the second week of the Qualifiers – they would enter the fifth round knowing another victory would see them promoted.

Furthermore, Rovers will be full of confidence at the prospect of inflicting a shock at Leigh as they won there in the Challenge Cup earlier this year.

That fifth game, meanwhile, is at home to the troubled Widnes Vikings, the ailing side that finished bottom of Super League and look more at peril than anyone else.

Picture that scene; a throbbing Craven Park, awash with red and white on a Sunday afternoon, a cacophony of noise knowing one more win would see them home to the promised land?

You would always fancy Rovers in those circumstances, especially as some of their long-term injured players should, by that point, have regained match fitness. Their toughest games are the last two – Catalans Dragons at home before a trip to Warrington Wolves – but they could be up by then, just like Leigh in 2016.

Admittedly, there are plenty of ifs, buts and maybes in this theory but there is a very real chance Rovers could cement automatic promotion if they are in tune for what lies ahead.

The experienced Sheens, you feel, will have them ready even if they have lost their last two games at home to Toulouse and at Halifax on Sunday.

They start out by entertaining Halifax a week on Sunday and it is imperative they win that; a third successive defeat leads to an entirely different picture.

Halifax coach Richard Marshall, meanwhile, takes his side to his former club Warrington on Saturday, August 19.

Fellow part-timers Featherstone Rovers begin with a televised home game against Leigh on Saturday, August 5.

The West Yorkshire club head to Catalans on Saturday, September 9, while their plum home tie with Warrington is on Sunday, September 17.

Elsewhere, Castleford Tigers will kick-off the Super 8s with a televised home game against St Helens on Thursday, August 3.

If Daryl Powell’s side win, they could seal the League Leaders’ Shield as early as the following week when they head to Salford Red Devils on Friday, August 11.

All three of Castleford’s opening three Super 8s games are broadcast on Sky Sports including their home fixture with Wakefield Trinity on Thursday, August 17.

Leeds Rhinos open their account with a home game against champions Wigan Warriors on Friday, August 4, before a West Yorkshire derby at Wakefield the following Thursday.

Trinity begin at Huddersfield Giants in another derby on Friday, August 4, while Challenge Cup holders Hull FC begin their quest for a place at Old Trafford by entertaining Salford Red Devils on the same night.

The RFL says the Championship Shield round one fixtures –including Sheffield Eagles, Bradford Bulls, Batley Bulldogs and Dewsbury Rams – are delayed until this morning due to “operational issues” with the rest being confirmed by Monday.