Daryl Powell delivers warning to Wakefield Trinity after tense Championship play-off win over York Knights

Trinity lost just once on their way to claiming the League Leaders' Shield but found themselves in the rare position of chasing the game on Sunday.

York, who took confidence from their performance at Wakefield in last month's league fixture, held a 7-6 half-time lead and nudged back ahead on the hour mark to move in sight of a shock victory.

However, Trinity recovered to book a date with Toulouse Olympique thanks to late tries from Derrell Olpherts and Iain Thornley.

Toulouse will travel to Belle Vue for the decider after Bradford Bulls fell short of a memorable win in the south of France.

On his side's 22-13 victory over York, Powell said: "It was a tough game.

"York were just as we expected them to be. They were really physical and aggressive and put us under pressure.

"We did a pretty good job to get out of it but I don't think we ever looked really comfortable and were ever at our best.

"Some of that you've got to give credit to the opposition but we've got to be better than that to win next week.

"We had a 50 per cent completion rate which is our worst all year. You can't get away with that in big games so it's important we tidy that up."

A semi-final appearance was not on the agenda for York when Mark Applegarth took the reins in June with the club 12th in the table.

The Knights booked a date with Wakefield thanks to 13 wins in 17 games, a fact not lost on Applegarth in the aftermath of the defeat at his old club.

"I'm disappointed but proud," he said.

"I thought we had our chances but you've also got to give credit to Wakefield.

"I'm really proud of the lads, not just for today's efforts but the season. We'll bottle up how we're feeling right now and use that as a bit of fuel for the fire to hopefully go one better next season."

Bradford are also facing up to their season being over after suffering an agonising 21-20 defeat at Toulouse.

Keven Appo scored a late try to set up a grandstand finish but Eamon O’Carroll's side could not find a winning score.

"You learn some of your best lessons in adversity and we are certainly going through a bit of that now," said O’Carroll. "However, this defeat will be a great reminder moving forward.

"Whenever we get a bit loose when those tough pre-season training days arrive, you know exactly why we are doing it – because we want to be on the positive side of these knockout matches."