2015 Super League season

(Redirected from Super League XX)

The Super League XX, known as the First Utility Super League XX for sponsorship reasons,[1] was the 2015 season of Super League.

Super League XX
LeagueSuper League
Duration30 Rounds
Teams12
Lowest attendance2,712
Salford City Reds vs Wakefield Trinity Wildcats,
(15 March)
Average attendance10,019
Broadcast partnersSky Sports
BBC Sport
Fox Sports
beIN Sports
Fox Soccer Plus
Sport Klub
2015 season
ChampionsLeeds Rhinos
7th Super League
10th British title
League LeadersLeeds Rhinos
Runners-upWigan Warriors
Biggest home winWarrington Wolves 80-0 Wakefield Trinity Wildcats (11 April)
Biggest away winWakefield Trinity Wildcats 20-58 Castleford Tigers (19 July)
Man of SteelEngland Zak Hardaker
Top point-scorer(s)England Luke Gale (247)
Top try-scorer(s)England Jermaine McGillvary (27)

Twelve teams competed over 23 rounds, including the Magic Weekend, after which the eight highest entered the play-offs for a place in the Grand Final. The four lowest teams entered the Super League Qualifying Play-off, along with the four highest Championship teams, to decide which will play in Super League XXI.

Leeds Rhinos became only the 3rd team to complete the Treble after defeating Wigan Warriors 22-20 in front of a new record attendance of 73,512 at Old Trafford to win their 7th Super League title.

Teams

edit

Super League XX is the first year since 2008 in which there is a promotion and relegation with the Championship. Super League has been reduced to 12 teams as part of the re-structuring of Super League and the Championship.[2]

Eleven teams in Super League are from the North of England: five teams, Warrington, St. Helens, Salford, Wigan and Widnes, west of the Pennines in the historic county of Lancashire and six teams, Huddersfield, Wakefield Trinity, Leeds, Castleford, Hull F.C. and Hull Kingston Rovers, to the east in Yorkshire. Catalans Dragons, in Perpignan, France, are the only team outside the North of England. With Bradford Bulls and London Broncos being relegated last season, this leaves St Helens, Wigan Warriors, Warrington Wolves and Leeds Rhinos as the only teams to have played in every season of Super League since 1996.

TeamStadiumCapacityCity/Area
Castleford Tigers (2015 season)The Mend-O-Hose Jungle11,750Castleford, West Yorkshire
Catalans Dragons (2015 season)Stade Gilbert Brutus14,000Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales, France
Huddersfield Giants (2015 season)John Smith's Stadium24,544Huddersfield, West Yorkshire
Hull F.C. (2015 season)Kingston Communications Stadium25,404Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire
Hull Kingston Rovers (2015 season)KC Lightstream Stadium12,225Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire
Leeds Rhinos (2015 season)Headingley Carnegie Stadium22,250Leeds, West Yorkshire
Salford Red Devils (2015 season)AJ Bell Stadium12,000Salford, Greater Manchester
St Helens R.F.C. (2015 season)Langtree Park18,000St. Helens, Merseyside
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats (2015 season)Rapid Solicitors Stadium11,000Wakefield, West Yorkshire
Warrington Wolves (2015 season)Halliwell Jones Stadium15,500Warrington, Cheshire
Widnes Vikings (2015 season)The Select Security Stadium13,500Widnes, Cheshire
Wigan Warriors (2015 season)DW Stadium25,138Wigan, Greater Manchester

Regular season table

edit

The regular season sees teams play each other home and away, and one team for a third time at the Magic Weekend. After 23 games, the "Super 8's" begin and the league is split into two mini leagues. Teams finishing in the top 8 compete in the Super League Super 8s while teams finishing in the bottom four will join the top 4 teams from the Championship in The Qualifiers to determine who will play in next seasons Super League.


PosTeamPldWDLPFPAPDPtsQualification
1 Leeds Rhinos231616758477+28133Super League Super 8s
2 St Helens231607598436+16232
3 Wigan Warriors231517589413+17631
4 Huddersfield Giants231328538394+14428
5 Castleford Tigers2313010547505+4226
6 Warrington Wolves2312011552456+9624
7 Hull F.C.2311012452484−3222
8 Catalans Dragons239212561574−1320
9 Widnes Vikings239113518565−4719The Qualifiers
10 Hull Kingston Rovers239014534646−11218
11 Salford City Reds238114447617−17017
12 Wakefield Trinity Wildcats233020402929−5276
Source: Rugby League Project
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Points difference; 3) Number of points scored;

Super 8s

edit

Super League

edit

The Super League Super 8's sees the top 8 Super League teams play 7 games each. Each team's points are carried over with top 4 teams entering the playoffs for the Super League Grand Final.


PosTeamPldWDLPFPAPDPtsQualification
1 Leeds Rhinos (L, C)302019944650+29441Semi-finals
2 Wigan Warriors302019798530+26841
3 Huddersfield Giants3018210750534+21638
4 St Helens3019011766624+14238
5 Castleford Tigers3016014731746−1532
6 Warrington Wolves3015015714636+7830
7 Catalans Dragons3013215739770−3128
8 Hull F.C.3012018620716−9624
Source: Rugby League Project
(C) Champions; (L) League Leaders' Shield Winners

The Qualifiers

edit

The Qualifiers sees the bottom 4 teams from Super League join the top 4 teams from the Championship. The points totals are reset to 0 and each team plays 7 games each, playing every other team once. After 7 games each the teams finishing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gain qualification to Super League XXI in 2016. The teams finishing 4th and 5th playoff in the Million Pound Game for the final spot in next seasons Super League. The loser of the Million Pound Game along with the teams finishing 6th, 7th and 8th will play in next seasons Championship

PosTeamPldWDLPFPAPDPtsQualification
1 Hull Kingston Rovers7700234118+116142016 Super League
2 Widnes Vikings750223270+16210
3 Salford City Reds7502239203+3610
4 Wakefield Trinity Wildcats (W)7304153170−176Million Pound Game
5 Bradford Bulls7304167240−736
6 Halifax7205162186−2442016 Championship
7 Sheffield Eagles7205152267−1154
8 Leigh Centurions7106146231−852
Source: Rugby League Project
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Points difference; 3) Number of points scored;
(W) Million Pound Game Winner

Playoffs

edit

Super League

edit
#HomeScoreAwayMatch Information
Date and Time (Local)VenueRefereeAttendance
SEMI-FINALS
SF1 Wigan Warriors32 – 8 Huddersfield Giants1 October, 20:00 BSTDW StadiumBen Thaler10,035
SF2 Leeds Rhinos20 – 13 St. Helens2 October, 20:00 BSTHeadingley Carnegie StadiumRobert Hicks17,192
GRAND FINAL
F Leeds Rhinos22 – 20 Wigan Warriors10 October, 18:00 BSTOld Trafford, ManchesterBen Thaler73,512

Million Pound Game

edit
#HomeScoreAwayMatch Information
Date and Time (Local)VenueRefereeAttendance
Million Pound Game
F Wakefield Trinity Wildcats24 – 16 Bradford Bulls3 October, 14:50 BSTBelle VueR. Silverwood7,246

Player statistics

edit

Top try assists

edit
RankPlayerClubAssists
1 Danny Brough Huddersfield Giants31
2= Luke Gale Castleford Tigers27
Danny McGuire Leeds Rhinos
4 Scott Dureau Catalans Dragons23
5 George Williams Wigan Warriors21
6= Marc Sneyd Hull F.C.20
Stefan Ratchford Warrington Wolves
8= Kevin Sinfield Leeds Rhinos18
Kevin Brown Widnes Vikings
9= Leroy Cudjoe Huddersfield Giants16
Rhys Hanbury Widnes Vikings

Top points scorers

edit
RankPlayerClubPoints
1 Luke Gale Castleford Tigers247
2 Kevin Sinfield Leeds Rhinos225
3 Danny Brough Huddersfield Giants208
4 Scott Dureau Catalans Dragons202
5 Josh Mantellato Hull Kingston Rovers196
6 Matty Smith Wigan Warriors168
7 Marc Sneyd Hull F.C.156
8 Luke Walsh Catalans Dragons126
9 Josh Griffin Salford Red Devils116
10 Jack Owens Widnes Vikings114

End-of-season awards

edit

Awards are presented for outstanding contributions and efforts to players and clubs in the week leading up to the Super League Grand Final:[3]

Media

edit

Television

edit

2015 is the fourth year of a five-year contract with Sky Sports to televise 70 matches per season.[4] The deal which runs until 2016 is worth £90million.

Sky Sports coverage in the UK will see two live matches broadcast each week, usually at 8:00 pm on Thursday and Friday nights.[5]

Regular commentators will be Eddie Hemmings and Mike Stephenson with summarisers including Phil Clarke, Brian Carney, Barrie McDermott and Terry O'Connor. Sky will broadcast highlights on Sunday nights on Super League - Full Time at 10 p.m.

BBC Sport will broadcast a highlights programme called the Super League Show, presented by Tanya Arnold. The BBC show two weekly broadcasts of the programme, the first to the BBC North West, Yorkshire, North East and Cumbria, and East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire regions on Monday evenings at 11:35 p.m. on BBC One,[6] while a repeat showing is shown nationally on BBC Two on Tuesday afternoons at 1.30 p.m. The Super League Show is also available for one week after broadcast for streaming or download via the BBC iPlayer in the UK only.[7] End of season play-offs are shown on BBC Two across the whole country in a weekly highlights package on Sunday afternoons.[8]

Internationally, Super League is shown live or delayed on Showtime Sports (Middle East), Sky Sport (New Zealand), TV 2 Sport (Norway), Fox Soccer Plus (United States), Fox Sports (Australia) and Sportsnet World (Canada).

Radio

edit

BBC Coverage:

Commercial Radio Coverage:

  • 102.4 Wish FM will carry commentaries of Wigan & St Helens matches.
  • 107.2 Wire FM will carry commentaries on Warrington and Widnes matches.
  • Radio Yorkshire will launch in March carrying Super League commentaries.
  • Radio Warrington (Online Station) all Warrington home games and some away games.
  • Grand Sud FM covers every Catalans Dragons Home Match (in French).
  • Radio France Bleu Roussillon covers every Catalans Dragons Away Match (in French).

All Super League commentaries on any station are available via the particular stations on-line streaming.

References

edit
edit