The Super League XX, known as the First Utility Super League XX for sponsorship reasons, was the 2015 season of Super League.
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 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.
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 Jungle 11,750 Castleford, West Yorkshire Catalans Dragons (2015 season) Stade Gilbert Brutus 14,000 Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales, France Huddersfield Giants (2015 season) John Smith's Stadium 24,544 Huddersfield, West Yorkshire Hull F.C. (2015 season) Kingston Communications Stadium 25,404 Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire Hull Kingston Rovers (2015 season) KC Lightstream Stadium 12,225 Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire Leeds Rhinos (2015 season) Headingley Carnegie Stadium 22,250 Leeds, West Yorkshire Salford Red Devils (2015 season) AJ Bell Stadium 12,000 Salford, Greater Manchester St Helens R.F.C. (2015 season) Langtree Park 18,000 St. Helens, Merseyside Wakefield Trinity Wildcats (2015 season) Rapid Solicitors Stadium 11,000 Wakefield, West Yorkshire Warrington Wolves (2015 season) Halliwell Jones Stadium 15,500 Warrington, Cheshire Widnes Vikings (2015 season) The Select Security Stadium 13,500 Widnes, Cheshire Wigan Warriors (2015 season) DW Stadium 25,138 Wigan, Greater Manchester
Regular season table 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.
Super 8s
Super League 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.
The Qualifiers 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
Playoffs Super League #HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and Time (Local)VenueRefereeAttendance SEMI-FINALSSF1 Wigan Warriors32 – 8 Huddersfield Giants1 October, 20:00 BSTDW StadiumBen Thaler10,035SF2 Leeds Rhinos20 – 13 St. Helens2 October, 20:00 BSTHeadingley Carnegie StadiumRobert Hicks17,192 GRAND FINALF Leeds Rhinos 22 – 20 Wigan Warriors10 October, 18:00 BSTOld Trafford, ManchesterBen Thaler73,512
Million Pound Game #HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and Time (Local)VenueRefereeAttendance Million Pound GameF Wakefield Trinity Wildcats24 – 16 Bradford Bulls3 October, 14:50 BSTBelle VueR. Silverwood7,246
Player statistics
Top Try Scorers
RankPlayerClubTries1 Jermaine McGillvary Huddersfield Giants272 Tom Lineham Hull F.C. 253 Joe Burgess Wigan Warriors 234 Dominic Manfredi Wigan Warriors205 Ryan Hall Leeds Rhinos196= Denny Solomona Castleford Tigers18 Aaron Murphy Huddersfield Giants Justin Carney Castleford Tigers Adam Swift St Helens10 Joel Monaghan Warrington Wolves17
Top goalscorers
RankPlayerClubGoals1 Kevin Sinfield Leeds Rhinos1052 Luke Gale Castleford Tigers1013 Scott Dureau Catalans Dragons944 Danny Brough Huddersfield Giants935 Matty Smith Wigan Warriors76
Top try assists
RankPlayerClubAssists1 Danny Brough Huddersfield Giants312= Luke Gale Castleford Tigers 27 Danny McGuire Leeds Rhinos4 Scott Dureau Catalans Dragons235 George Williams Wigan Warriors216= Marc Sneyd Hull F.C.20 Stefan Ratchford Warrington Wolves8= Kevin Sinfield Leeds Rhinos18 Kevin Brown Widnes Vikings9= Leroy Cudjoe Huddersfield Giants16 Rhys Hanbury Widnes Vikings
Top points scorers
RankPlayerClubPoints1 Luke Gale Castleford Tigers 2472 Kevin Sinfield Leeds Rhinos2253 Danny Brough Huddersfield Giants2084 Scott Dureau Catalans Dragons2025 Josh Mantellato Hull Kingston Rovers1966 Matty Smith Wigan Warriors1687 Marc Sneyd Hull F.C.1568 Luke Walsh Catalans Dragons1269 Josh Griffin Salford Red Devils11610 Jack Owens Widnes Vikings114
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:
Man of Steel: Zak Hardaker Coach of the year: Brian McDermott Super League club of the year: Leeds Rhinos Young player of the year: George Williams Foundation of the year: Warrington Wolves Rhino "Top Gun": Kevin Sinfield Metre-maker: Alex Walmsley (4092) Top Try Scorer: Jermaine McGillvary (27) Outstanding Achievement Award: Hit Man: Danny Houghton
Media Television 2015 is the fourth year of a five-year contract with Sky Sports to televise 70 matches per season. 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.
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, 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. End of season play-offs are shown on BBC Two across the whole country in a weekly highlights package on Sunday afternoons.
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
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 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
External links Official Site BBC Rugby League