AS Victor Meldrew would say, 'I don’t believe it!'

The 6/1 outsiders Rochdale Hornets went to France and defeated unbeaten Toulouse 24-22 in the promotion play-off final – to the amazement of the rugby league community.

Only a few weeks ago, Rochdale went on the same trip and were hammered by 40 points.

The result completely ruined my weekend, and I’m sure it ruined all Barrow supporters' weekends as well. We were all getting mentally prepared for a victorious day out to Rochdale, a couple of hours down the motorway, in the second promotion match.

Instead, it’s looking like another flight to France for the core of Barrow followers. Perhaps Toulouse should do the decent thing and pay for all those who decide to make the trip?

Of all the games to lose, coach-of-the-year Sylvain Houles and his team go and lose the most important one, in front of 3,513 fans, and put Raiders supporters' plans and promotion dreams in jeopardy.

Toulouse finished eight points ahead of Rochdale in League One, and they were 16-0 up after 30 minutes and coasting in the final.

But, to Rochdale’s credit, they hung on and outpaced their French hosts to claim the first promotion place.

So what does that result mean?

Well, York City Knights (who are still going through an ownership issue) travel to France to play Toulouse this afternoon in the semi-final.

In the first phase of the season, York were very strong, but it seems the off-field turmoil has slowly took its toll on the team and they are nothing like the force they were at the start of the season.

However, they have nothing to lose against a team who must still be in shock and, with a bit of luck, might pull off another surprise. Let’s hope so.

Tomorrow, Barrow host Doncaster in the other semi-final, and the winners of this match will either have to travel to France next Saturday or host York City Knights next Sunday to win promotion.

Like Barrow, Doncaster have had a week to regroup and Dons coach Gary Thornton is in a confident mood. The honours are even, with one victory each this season, but both of those games were played at the Keepmoat. This is Doncaster’s first trip to Craven Park.

These encounters are always close, and I’m sure this will be no different. Barrow are in great form and home advantage should see us through, but we all know that if we don’t maintain discipline and respect the ball it could be goodbye to the final.

There are no major injury worries, so we should have our strongest team out. A win probably means we have to do it the hard way and triumph in Toulouse, but let’s stay focused and not get ahead of ourselves.

Hopefully a good crowd will turn up. After the considerable effort thus far, everyone associated with the club deserves the highest crowd of the season.

Don’t forget the gate receipts have to be shared with Doncaster, so it will probably be their biggest pay day of the season.

Sheffield Eagles are struggling to survive.

After a fantastic season in 2015, they decided to go full-time. Unfortunately, they couldn’t replicate their success and have slowly descended into the financial mire, so much so that they are on the brink of extinction.

I am all for ambition, but going full-time seemed a high-risk strategy, and so it has been proven.

Whitehaven may be reprieved from relegation, but perhaps the third-placed team in League One should gain promotion instead?

Get down to Craven Park tomorrow, and let’s cheer Raiders all the way to the final.

TONY COLYER