Leigh Centurions v Leeds Rhinos: Leeds sure they can reach play-offs but decision pushes Leigh closer to drop

They visit the competition’s bottom club tonight knowing their opponents have still yet to get off the mark in 2021.

Leigh have lost all 15 games so far and one way of potentially avoiding an immediate relegation was shut off in the corridors of power earlier this week.

A proposal to suspend demoption for the second successive year due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic was put before the 12 club representatives at a series of meetings called to discuss potential restructuring.

There was a plan to promote two teams from the Championship and run a 14-team Super League in 2022 before splitting into two divisions of 10.

However, it seems the move failed to receive enough support so promotion and relegation goes ahead as planned: there will still be a 12-team Super League in 2022, a crushing blow for Leigh.

Leeds beat them 48-18 last month but come in to this evening on the back of successive defeats against Warrington Wolves and Castleford Tigers. That left them just outside of the top-six ahead of this round and coach Richard Agar knows there is now little room for manoeuvre.

Rhinos have seven games remaining plus one to rearrange.

Agar said: “A lot rests on how many of the games that have been called off are going to get played, but we know where we are at and we think we know how many wins we’ve got to get and where roughly that will leave us.

“We will keep those targets in-house, but I think there’s going to be a lot of twists and turns from now and the schedule and Covid will probably have its say on what the table’s going to look like.

“There is less margin for error (after Castleford defeat), but at the same time, we think it is really do-able.”

However, Agar revealed utility back Liam Sutcliffe will be out until 2022 due to imminent knee surgery so he joins Mikolaj Oledzki (foot) and Alex Mellor (knee) in missing the rest of the campaign.

King Vuniyayawa (concussion) also drops out this evening but England scrum-half Luke Gale returns after suspension.