Super League XX
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| League | Super League | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duration | 23 Rounds (Followed by 7 rounds of relevant playoffs) | |||
| Number of teams | 12 | |||
| Broadcast partners |  Sky Sports BBC Sport SLTV Fox Sports (Australia) beIN Sport Fox Soccer Plus Sport Klub | |||
| 2015 season | ||||
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The 2015 Super League season, known as the First Utility Super League XX for sponsorship reasons,[1] will be the 20th rugby league season since the Super League was introduced in 1996. Twelve teams will compete over 23 rounds, including the Magic Weekend, after which the eight highest will enter play-offs for a place in the Grand Final. The four lowest teams will enter the Super League Qualifying Play-off, along with the four highest Championship teams, to decide which will play in Super League XXI.
Teams
Super League XX will be the first year since 2008 in which there will be 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 Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside and six teams, Huddersfield, Wakefield, Leeds, Castleford, Hull and Hull KR, 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.
The maps below indicate the locations of teams that will compete in Super League XX.
Standings
Regular Season
The 2015 Super League season will see teams play each other home and way, and one team for a third time at the Magic Weekend. After 23 games, the league table is frozen and the teams are split up into "Super 8's". Teams finishing in the top 8 will play 7 more games each as they compete in the Super League Super 8 group for a place in the Grand Final. Teams finishing in the bottom four will join the top 4 teams from the Championship in The Qualifiers Super 8 group and also play 7 more games each for a place in the 2016 Super League competition.
| Position | Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Pts for | Pts agst | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Leeds Rhinos |
12 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 372 | 223 | 20 |
| 2 |  St Helens |
12 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 280 | 216 | 16 |
| 3 |  Wigan Warriors |
12 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 293 | 220 | 15 |
| 4 |  Huddersfield Giants |
12 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 157 | 174 | 12 |
| 5 |  Warrington Wolves |
12 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 287 | 235 | 12 |
| 6 |  Castleford Tigers |
12 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 237 | 234 | 12 |
| 7 |  Salford Red Devils |
11 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 242 | 278 | 11 |
| 8 |  Catalan Dragons |
12 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 280 | 325 | 11 |
| 9 |  Hull KR |
11 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 258 | 277 | 10 |
| 10 |  Widnes Vikings |
12 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 262 | 296 | 9 |
| 11 |  Hull FC |
11 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 184 | 209 | 8 |
| 12 |  Wakefield Trinity Wildcats |
11 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 190 | 452 | 4 |
| Teams in position to qualify for the Super League "Super 8 Play offs" | |
| Teams in position to join 4 championship sides in the Super League "Super 8 Qualifiers" |
Results
The regular league season sees the 12 teams play each other twice (one home, one away) plus an additional match, as part of the Magic Weekend, over 23 matches. The team who finishes 1st at the end of the regular season win the League Leader's Shield.
Super 8's
- Super League
The Super League Super 8's sees the top 8 teams from the Super League play 7 games each. Each teams points are carried over and after 7 additional games the top 4 teams will contest the play off semi-finals with the team in 1st hosting the team in 4th, and the team finishing 2nd hosting the 3rd placed team; the winners of these semi-finals will contest the Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford. Teams finishing 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th after the 7 additional games will take no further part in the 2015 season but will play in Super League again in 2016.
| Position | Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Pts for | Pts agst | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Super League First Place Team | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Super League Second Place Team | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Super League Third Place Team | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Super League Fourth Place Team | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Super League Fifth Place Team | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Super League Sixth Place Team | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Super League Seventh Place Team | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Super League Eighth Place Team | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Team finishing top of the table, earning the League Leaders Shield | |
| Teams qualifying for the Super League 2015 Play off Semi Finals. | |
| Teams season is complete.. |
| # | Home | Score | Away | Match Information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date and Time (Local) | Venue | Referee | Attendance | ||||||
| SEMI-FINALS | |||||||||
| SF1 | First Placed Team | 0 – 0 | Fourth Placed team | Date TBC | Home Ground of First Place | ||||
| SF1 | Second Placed Team | 0 – 0 | Third Placed team | Date TBC | Home Ground of Second Place | ||||
| GRAND FINAL | |||||||||
| F | Winner SF1 | 0 – 0 | Winner SF2 | 10 October, 18:00 BST | Old Trafford, Manchester | ||||
- The Qualifiers
The Qualifiers Super 8's sees the bottom 4 teams from Super League table 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 will gain qualification to the 2016 Super League season. The teams finishing 4th and 5th will play in the "Million Pound Game" at the home of the 4th place team which will earn the winner a place in the 2016 Super League; the loser, along with teams finishing 6th, 7th and 8th, will be relegated to the Championship.
| Position | Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Pts for | Pts agst | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Super League Ninth Place Team | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Super League Tenth Place Team | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Super League Eleventh Place Team | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Super League Twelfth Place Team | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Championship First Place Team | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Championship Second Place Team | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Championship Third Place Team | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Championship Fourth Place Team | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Teams qualifying for Super League 2016. | |
| Teams qualifying for the "Million Pound Game" to earn a 2016 Super League Place | |
| Teams relegated to the Championship for 2016 |
| # | Home | Score | Away | Match Information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date and Time (Local) | Venue | Referee | Attendance | ||||||
| Million Pound Game | |||||||||
| F | Qualifiers 4th Place Team | 0 – 0 | Qualifiers 5th Place Team | Date TBC | Home Ground of 4th Place | ||||
- Championship Shield
The third of the three "Super 8" groups sees teams finishing 5th to 12th in the regular Championship table. Like the Super League 8's, these teams retain their original points and play 7 extra games, with the teams finishing in the top 4 places after these extra games contesting play-offs similar to Super League, with 1st v 4th and 2nd vs 3rd, with the winners contesting the Championship Shield Grand Final.
The two teams finishing at the bottom of this Super 8's group (7th and 8th) will be relegated to League One and be replaced by two promoted sides.
End of season awards
Awards are presented for outstanding contributions and efforts to players and clubs in the week leading up to the Super League Grand Final:[3]
- Man of Steel:
- Coach of the year:
- Super League club of the year:
- Young player of the year:
- Foundation of the year:
- Rhino "Top Gun":
- Metre-maker:
- Top Try Scorer:
- Outstanding Achievement Award:
- Hit Man:
Media
Television
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), NTV+ (Russia), Fox Soccer Plus (United States), Eurosport (Australia) and Sportsnet World (Canada).
Radio
BBC Coverage:
- BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra (National DAB Digital Radio) will carry two Super League commentaries each week on Thursday and Friday nights (both kick off 8pm); this will be through the 5 Live Rugby League programme which is presented by Dave Woods with a guest summariser (usually a Super League player or coach) and also includes interviews and debate..
- BBC Radio Humberside will have full match commentary of all Hull KR and Hull matches.
- BBC Radio Leeds carry commentaries featuring Leeds, Castleford, Wakefield and Huddersfield.
- BBC Radio Manchester will carry commentary of Wigan and Salford whilst sharing commentary of Warrington with BBC Radio Merseyside.
- BBC Radio Merseyside (will have commentary on St Helens and Widnes matches whilst sharing commentary of Warrington with BBC Radio Manchester.
Commercial Radio Coverage:
- 102.4 Wish FM will carry commentaries of Wigan & St Helens matches.
- 107.2 Wire FM will carry commentaries on Warrington Home and Away.
- 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
- ↑ "First Utility powers title sponsorship of Super League". Super League. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
- ↑ "Super League set to feature 12 teams from 2015". Super League. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
- ↑ "Man of Steel on SLTV". Super League. 6 October 2009. Retrieved 6 October 2009.
- ↑ Sky Sports (4 August 2011). "Super League deal" (PDF). Sky Sports. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
- ↑ Sky Sports (18 February 2012). "Rugby League live on Sky". Sky Sports. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
- ↑ BBC Sport (3 February 2012). "BBC's Super League Show returns". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
- ↑ BBC. "BBC One - Super League Show". BBC. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
- ↑ "BBC Two - Rugby League: Super League Play-Offs - Highlights". BBC. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
External links
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