Super League XXI, known as the First Utility Super League XXI for sponsor reasons, was the 21st season of the Super League and 122nd season of rugby league in Britain for 2016.
Twelve teams competed over 23 rounds, including the Magic Weekend. Wigan Warriors were the Champions after successfully defeating Warrington Wolves 12–6 at Old Trafford, while Leigh Centurions were promoted from the Championship via The Qualifiers while Hull KR were relegated after losing to Salford Red Devils in the Million Pound Game.
Teams
Super League XXI features twelve teams, the second year in which this number has taken part. This is also the second year since promotion and relegation was reintroduced into the competition although there has been no change in teams for 2016.
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. St Helens, Wigan Warriors, Warrington Wolves and Leeds Rhinos as the only teams to have played in every season of Super League since 1996.
Team2015 positionStadiumCapacityCity/Area Castleford Tigers (2016 season)5th The Mend-O-Hose Jungle 11,750 Castleford, West Yorkshire Catalans Dragons (2016 season) 8th Stade Gilbert Brutus 14,000 Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales, France Huddersfield Giants (2016 season)3rd John Smith's Stadium 24,544 Huddersfield, West Yorkshire Hull F.C. (2016 season)7th Kingston Communications Stadium 25,404 Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire Hull Kingston Rovers (2016 season) 9th KC Lightstream Stadium 12,225 Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire Leeds Rhinos (2016 season)1st Headingley Carnegie Stadium 22,250 Leeds, West Yorkshire Salford Red Devils (2016 season)11th AJ Bell Stadium 12,000 Salford, Greater Manchester St Helens R.F.C. (2016 season)4th Langtree Park 18,000 St. Helens, Merseyside Wakefield Trinity Wildcats (2016 season)12th Rapid Solicitors Stadium 11,000 Wakefield, West Yorkshire Warrington Wolves (2016 season)6th Halliwell Jones Stadium 15,500 Warrington, Cheshire Widnes Vikings (2016 season)10th The Select Security Stadium 13,500 Widnes, Cheshire Wigan Warriors (2016 season)2nd DW Stadium 25,138 Wigan, Greater Manchester
Regular season
Super 8s
Super League
The Qualifiers
Play-offs Super League #HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and Time (Local)VenueRefereeAttendance SEMI-FINALSSF1 Warrington Wolves18 – 10 St. Helens 29 September 20:00Halliwell Jones StadiumBen Thaler12,036SF2 Wigan Warriors28 – 18 Hull F.C. 30 September 20:00DW StadiumRobert Hicks14,013 GRAND FINALF Warrington Wolves 6 – 12 Wigan Warriors8 October 2016 18:00Old Trafford, ManchesterRobert Hicks70,202
Million Pound Game #HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and Time (Local)VenueRefereeAttendance Million Pound GameF Hull Kingston Rovers18 – 19 Salford Red Devils1 October, 15:00 BSTLightstream StadiumPhil Bentham6,562
Player statistics
Top try scorers
RankPlayerClubTries1 Denny Solomona Castleford Tigers402 Corey Thompson Widnes Vikings273= Jodie Broughton Catalans Dragons19 Josh Charnley Wigan Warriors5= Jermaine McGillvary Huddersfield Giants17 Ryan Atkins Warrington Wolves Ben Currie Warrington Wolves Adam Swift St. Helens9 Fetuli Talanoa Hull F.C.1510= Dominic Manfredi Wigan Warriors14 Mahe Fonua Hull F.C. Jamie Shaul Hull F.C. Luke Dorn Castleford Tigers Tom Johnstone Wakefield Trinity Tom Lineham Warrington Wolves
Top goalscorers
RankPlayerClubGoals1 Luke Gale Castleford Tigers1182 Marc Sneyd Hull F.C.1103 Kurt Gidley Warrington Wolves874= Liam Finn Wakefield Trinity Wildcats83 Matty Smith Wigan Warriors6 Luke Walsh St. Helens717 Pat Richards Catalans Dragons698 Danny Brough Huddersfield Giants569 Rhys Hanbury Widnes Vikings5510 Gareth O'Brien Salford Red Devils51
Top try assists
RankPlayerClubAssists1 Luke Gale Castleford Tigers462= Chris Sandow Warrington Wolves25 Luke Walsh St. Helens4= Gareth O'Brien Salford Red Devils22 Kevin Brown Widnes Vikings Marc Sneyd Hull F.C.7 Luke Dorn Castleford Tigers218= Michael Dobson Salford Red Devils18 Danny Brough Huddersfield Giants Liam Finn Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Jacob Miller Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Danny Houghton Hull F.C. George Williams Wigan Warriors
Top points scorers
RankPlayerClubPoints1 Luke Gale Castleford Tigers2622 Marc Sneyd Hull F.C. 2413 Kurt Gidley Warrington Wolves2024 Matty Smith Wigan Warriors1955= Pat Richards Catalans Dragons174 Liam Finn Wakefield Trinity Wildcats7 Denny Solomona Castleford Tigers1608 Rhys Hanbury Widnes Vikings1589 Luke Walsh St. Helens15510 Danny Brough Huddersfield Giants132
Statistics correct as of 24 September 2016
Attendances
Average attendances
ClubHomeGamesTotalAverageHighestLowest Castleford Tigers 11 84,909 7,719 11,426 4,968 Catalans Dragons 11 107,403 9,764 11,856 8,178 Huddersfield Giants 11 59,647 5,422 7,536 4,143 Hull FC 11 125,478 11,407 17,481 9,600 Hull KR 11 85,885 7,808 11,050 6,434 Leeds Rhinos 11 174,769 15,888 17,505 14,016 Salford Red Devils 11 39,927 3,630 5,089 1,958 St Helens 11 122,275 11,116 17,980 9,299 Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 11 58,647 5,332 6,855 4,048 Warrington Wolves 11 120,230 10,930 15,008 9,024 Widnes Vikings 11 62,073 5,643 9,076 4,195 Wigan Warriors 11 149,995 13,636 20,049 10,897
Top 10 attendances
Rank Home club Away club Stadium Attendance 1 Magic Weekend: Day 1 St. James' Park 39,331 2 Magic Weekend: Day 2 St. James' Park 28,945 3 Wigan Warriors St Helens DW Stadium 20,049 4 St Helens Wigan Warriors Langtree Park 17,980 5 Leeds Rhinos St Helens Headingley Stadium 17,505 6 Hull FC Hull KR KCOM Stadium 17,481 7 Wigan Warriors Warrington Wolves DW Stadium 17,480 8 Leeds Rhinos Castleford Tigers Headingley Stadium 17,213 9 Leeds Rhinos Wigan Warriors Headingley Stadium 16,712 10 Leeds Rhinos Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Headingley Stadium 16,314
Statistics correct as of 24 July 2016
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: Danny Houghton - Hull F.C. Coach of the year: Lee Radford - Hull F.C. Super League club of the year: Hull F.C. Young player of the year: Tom Johnstone - Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Foundation of the year: Rhino "Top Gun": Marc Sneyd - Hull F.C. Metre-maker: Chris Hill - Warrington Wolves Top Try Scorer: Denny Solomona (40) - Castleford Tigers Hit Man: Danny Houghton - Hull F.C.
Media Television 2016 is the fifth and final year of a five-year contract with Sky Sports to televise 70 matches per season. The deal 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 beIN Sports (France), 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 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). Talksport and Talksport 2 will carry weekly live matches throughout the UK, plus phone-in programs and a weekly magazine show hosted by Robbie Hunter-Paul.
All Super League commentaries on any station are available via the particular stations on-line streaming.
References
External links Official Site BBC Rugby League