Super League XV

The 2010 Super League season (known as the Engage Super League XV for sponsorship reasons) was the 15th season of the European rugby league football competition, Super League.[2] Fourteen teams competed for the League Leaders' Shield over 27 rounds (including the Magic Weekend at Murrayfield Stadium). All clubs also participated in the 2010 Challenge Cup tournament. The season officially kicked off on 5 February with the Crusaders versus the Leeds Rhinos on 29 January at Crusaders' new homeground at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham. Crusaders halfback Michael Witt scored the first points of the season with a penalty goal and the Rhinos came away with the first competition points, posting a 34 to 6 victory.

Super League XV
LeagueSuper League
Duration27 Rounds (Followed by 4 round playoffs)
Teams14
Highest attendance26,642
Magic Weekend Day 1 (1 May)
Lowest attendance2,330
Harlequins vs. Catalans Dragons (14 February)
Average attendance9,615[1]
Attendance990,439[1]
Broadcast partners Sky Sports

Nine Network

Orange Sport

America One

Sport Klub
2010 season
Champions Wigan Warriors
2nd Super League title
19th English title
League Leaders Wigan Warriors
Runners-up St. Helens
Man of Steel Pat Richards
Top point-scorer(s) Pat Richards (388)
Top try-scorer(s) Pat Richards (29)

The season came to a conclusion with Wigan Warriors beating St. Helens 22-10 in the Super League Grand Final on 2 October[3] with two tries for Martin Gleeson.

Teams

Super League XV was the second year of a licensed Super League. Under this system, promotion and relegation between Super League and National League One was abolished, and 14 teams were granted licences subject to certain criteria. All twelve teams from Super League XIII were given places, as well as former Super League team Salford City Reds and Crusaders.

Geographically, the vast majority of teams in Super League are based in the north of England, four teams – Warrington, St. Helens, Salford and Wigan – to the west of the Pennines in Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside, and seven teams to the east in Yorkshire – Huddersfield, Bradford, Wakefield Trinity, Leeds, Castleford, Hull F.C. and Hull Kingston Rovers. Catalans Dragons are the only team based in France and are outside of the United Kingdom. Crusaders are the only team in Wales, and Harlequins are the only team to be based in a capital city (London).

Team Stadium Capacity City/Area
Bradford Bulls (2010 season) Grattan Stadium, Odsal 27,000 Bradford, West Yorkshire
Castleford Tigers (2010 season) The Jungle 11,750 Castleford, West Yorkshire
Catalans Dragons (2010 season) Stade Gilbert Brutus 10,000 Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales, France
Crusaders (2010 season) The Racecourse Ground 15,000 Wrexham, Clwyd, Wales
Harlequins (2010 season) Twickenham Stoop 12,700 Twickenham, London
Huddersfield Giants (2010 season) Galpharm Stadium 24,544 Huddersfield, West Yorkshire
Hull F.C. (2010 season) Kingston Communications Stadium 25,404 Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire
Hull Kingston Rovers (2010 season) "New" Craven Park 9,471 Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire
Leeds Rhinos (2010 season) Headingley Carnegie Stadium 22,250 Leeds, West Yorkshire
Salford City Reds (2010 season) The Willows 11,363 Salford, Greater Manchester
St Helens R.F.C. (2010 season) The GPW Recruitment Stadium 17,500 St Helens, Merseyside
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats (2010 season) Belle Vue 12,600 Wakefield, West Yorkshire
Warrington Wolves (2010 season) Halliwell Jones Stadium 14,206 Warrington, Cheshire
Wigan Warriors (2010 season) DW Stadium 25,138 Wigan, Greater Manchester
  Reigning champions

Rules

Rule changes

The RFL announced two new rule interpretations intended to increase player safety in the tackle:[4]

  • Referees now call "held" if one of the ball-carrier's legs is lifted by a defender in a tackle in which the participants are stood upright.[4] Previously, a referee would only declare the tackle complete if both legs had been lifted.[4]
  • Referees now call held as soon as they see the ball-carrier being dragged by more than one defender.[4] This prevents groups of defenders dragging an opponent into touch or the in-goal area.[4]

Operational rules

The 'club trained player rule' entered its third year and made a planned adjustment:[5]

  • Clubs would be required to include a minimum of seven players, an increase from six players, who have come through their academy or are under 21 years old in their 25-player first team squads.[5] British clubs were required to have twelve United Kingdom-trained players, an increase from eleven, and no more than six overseas-trained players, a decrease from eight.[5]
  • Crusaders were granted dispensation to include up to fourteen overseas-trained players for the 2010 season as the Welsh club is considered to be still developing.[6]

Season summary

Regular season

January

  • 29 - Leeds Rhinos win the first game of 2010 against a new look Crusaders 34-6 in a snow filled Racecourse Ground, Wrexham. This match set a home record attendance for Crusaders of 10,334, which is also a record attendance for a Welsh rugby league fixture on home soil.

February

April

  • 1 - The first draw of Super League XV is recorded when Leeds and Bradford drew 20 - 20 at Headingley Carnegie
  • 2 - St Helens are defeated 10 - 18 by Wigan Warriors in the last local derby match to be played between the two sides at Knowsley Road

May

August

September

  • 4 - St. Helens beat Castleford Tigers 40-30 in the final ever league game at Knowsley Road. Captain Keiron Cunningham sealed the win with a last minute try - A score which moved St Helens above Warrington into 2nd place on points difference alone, meaning the Saints will host Warrington in the play offs the following week.

October

Super League XV
Pos. Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
1 Wigan Warriors 272205922411+51144
2 St. Helens 272007946547+39940
3 Warrington Wolves 272007885488+39740
4 Leeds Rhinos 271719725561+16435
5 Huddersfield Giants 2716110758439+31933
6 Hull FC 2716011569584−1532
7 Hull KR 2714112653632+2129
8 Crusaders RL 2712015547732−18524
9 Castleford Tigers 2711016648766−11822
10 Bradford Bulls 279117528728−20019
11 Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 279018539741−20218
12 Salford City Reds 278019448857−40916
13 Harlequins RL 277020494838−34414
14 Catalans Dragons 276021409747−33812
  Teams qualifying for the Play-offs

Source: superleague.co.uk.
Classification: 1st on competition points; 2nd on match points difference.
Competition points: for win = 2; for draw = 1; for loss = 0.

Play-offs

The play-offs commence following the conclusion of 27 round regular season. To decide the grand finalists from the top eight finishing teams, Super League adopts the unique Super League play-off system. The finals will conclude with the 2010 Super League Grand Final.

  Qualifying / Elimination play-offs Preliminary semi-finals Qualifying semi-finals Grand Final
                                         
  QPO1:    
1   Wigan Warriors 26  
4   Leeds Rhinos 27     PSF1:    
              Wigan Warriors 42    
EPO1:           Hull KR 18       QSF1: St Helens selected Huddersfield[9]
5   Huddersfield Giants 18             St Helens 42  
8   Crusaders 12             Huddersfield Giants 22     GF: 2 October, Old Trafford
          St Helens 10
  EPO2:       QSF2:         Wigan Warriors 22
6   Hull 4           Leeds Rhinos 6  
7   Hull KR 21     PSF2:           Wigan Warriors 26  
        Warrington Wolves 22    
QPO2:           Huddersfield Giants 34    
2   St. Helens 28    
3   Warrington Wolves 12    
   
Key:          Losing team progressing      Winning team progressing      Winning team's progression chosen

Week 1. Qualifying/Elimination play-offs: Fixtures decided by regular reason finishing positions. Higher ranked teams play lower ranked teams. Higher ranked teams receive home ground advantage.
Week 2. Preliminary semi-finals: Fixtures decided by regular season finishing positions. Higher ranked teams play lower ranked teams. Higher ranked teams receive home ground advantage.
Week 3. Qualifying semi-finals: Winners of Qualifying play-offs play winners of Qualifying semi-finals. Fixtures decided by Club Call. Winners of Qualifying play-offs receive home ground advantage.

Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time (Local) Venue Referee Crowd
QUALIFYING AND ELIMINATION FINALS
St Helens R.F.C. 28 12 Warrington Wolves 10 September, 8:00pm GPW Recruitment Stadium Richard Silverwood (Dewsbury) 14,632
Huddersfield Giants 18 12 Crusaders 11 September, 3:45pm Galpharm Stadium Ben Thaler(Wakefield) 5,869
Hull 4 21 Hull Kingston Rovers 11 September, 6:00pm KC Stadium Phil Bentham (Warrington) 17,699
Wigan Warriors 26 27 Leeds Rhinos 12 September, 6:45pm DW Stadium Thierry Alibert (Toulouse) 14,987
PRELIMINARY SEMI-FINALS
Wigan Warriors 42 18 Hull Kingston Rovers 17 September, 8:00pm DW Stadium R Silverwood 11,133
Warrington Wolves 22 34 Huddersfield Giants 18 September, 6:15pm Halliwell Jones Stadium P Bentham 8,050
SEMI-FINALS
St Helens R.F.C. 42 22 Huddersfield Giants 24 September, 8:00pm GPW Recruitment Stadium P Bentham 13,510
Leeds Rhinos 6 26 Wigan Warriors 25 September, 5:15pm Headingley Stadium R Silverwood 13,693
GRAND FINAL
St Helens R.F.C. 10 22 Wigan Warriors 2 October, 6:00pm Old Trafford, Manchester R Silverwood 71,526

Awards

Awards have been presented for outstanding contributions and efforts to players and clubs:[10]

Disciplinary record

The following table lists all incidents that were reviewed by the Rugby Football League during Super League XV, which were later deemed "guilty" and resulted in disciplinary action. The offenses were graded, depending on severity, in alphabetical order, "A" being less severe than "B".

Media

Television

2010 was the second of a three-year broadcasting agreement between the RFL and BSkyB for Sky Sports to screen matches exclusively live within the United Kingdom.[13] The deal for the 2009, 2010 and 2011 season was worth in excess of £50 million.[14][15]

Sky Sports' continued coverage in the UK sees two live matches broadcast each week - one on Friday at 7:30pm and another at 6pm on Saturday. Regular commentators are Eddie Hemmings and Mike Stephenson with summarisers including Phil Clarke, Barrie McDermott and Terry O'Connor. Highlights are shown on Boots N' All which is shown on Sky Sports and is rebroadcast on the Internet.

BBC Sport broadcast a highlights programme called the Super League Show, usually presented by Harry Gration. The BBC have elected to broadcast this only to the North West, Yorkshire and North Midlands, North East and Cumbria, and East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire regions on a Sunday. A national repeat is broadcast overnight during the week, the BBC Director of Sport, Richard Moseley, commented that this move was in response to the growing popularity and awareness of the sport, and the large number of requests from people who want to watch it elsewhere in the UK. End of season play-offs are shown across the whole country in a highlights package. Super League Show is available for streaming or downloaded using the BBC iPlayer in the UK.

Orange Sport TV in France shows every Catalans Dragons home match live and also some other matches which are broadcast in the UK live on Sky.

Internationally Super League is shown live on Showtime Sports (Middle East), Sky Sport (New Zealand), NTV+ (Russia), SportKlub (Eastern Europe).

2010 was the second year of a three-year deal in which the Nine Network in Australia show up to 70 live games from Super League over the season.[16][17]

In the United States America One show live Super League games from 2010.[18]

Channel Nine started coverage of 2010 matches from 7 March at midnight (leading into Monday morning) due to coverage of the Winter Olympics they could not show the earlier matches.

Radio

Super League XV is covered extensively by BBC Local Radio:

  • BBC Radio Manchester cover Wigan, Salford and Warrington
  • BBC Radio Humberside cover Hull KR and Hull
  • BBC Radio Leeds cover Bradford, Leeds, Castleford, Wakefield and Huddersfield
  • BBC Radio Merseyside (AM/DAB only) cover St Helens and Warrington

The competition is also covered on commercial radio coverage:

  • BCB 106.6 (Bradford Community Broadcasting) cover Bradford Bulls home and away
  • Radio Aire cover Leeds Rhinos
  • KCFM Hull cover Hull KR and Hull
  • Radio Marseillette covers every Catalans Dragons Home Match (in French)
  • Radio France Bleu Roussillon covers every Catalans Dragons Away Match (in French)
  • Yorkshire Radio cover all Yorkshire clubs and have one commentary per round which is not covered by either BBC or Sky

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

Internet

ESPN3 has worldwide broadband rights.

Starting from 9 April 2009, all of the matches shown on Sky Sports are also available live online via Livestation everywhere in the world excluding the US, Puerto Rico, UK, Ireland, France, Monaco, Australia and New Zealand.[19]

In the United Kingdom, BBC London 94.9, BBC Radio Wales and Radio Warrington cover Harlequins, Crusaders (home games) and Warrington (home games) respectively.

References

  1. "Sky Sports - Super League Stats". Sky Sports. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
  2. "engage extends Super League deal". Engage Super League (Engage Mutual Assurance). 1 July 2008. Archived from the original on 10 July 2011. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
  3. "St Helens 10 Wigan 22". BBC Sport. 2 October 2010. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  4. "New rule interpretations for 2010". RugbyLeague.com. 15 January 2010. Archived from the original on 15 January 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2010.
  5. Super League. "Competition structure". Super League (Europe). Archived from the original on 11 January 2010. Retrieved 24 July 2009.
  6. Laybourn, Ian (15 December 2009). "Noble aims to fill overseas quota". Sporting Life. Retrieved 31 December 2009.
  7. "Wakefield's Terry Newton suspended over dope test". BBC Sport. 17 February 2010. Archived from the original on 5 March 2010. Retrieved 17 February 2010.
  8. "Wakefield cancel Terry Newton's contract after drug ban". BBC Sport. 22 February 2010. Archived from the original on 5 March 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2010.
  9. BBC Sport (19 September 2010). "St Helens opt for Huddersfield Giants in Club Call". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 26 September 2010. Retrieved 19 September 2010.
  10. "Trio nominated for rugby league Man of Steel honour". BBC Sport. 16 September 2010.
  11. Wigan's Pat Richards named 2010 Man of Steel BBC Sport, 27 September 2010
  12. Wigan's Pat Richards wins RLWA player of the year BBC Sport, 7 September 2010
  13. Sky Sports (26 November 2007). "Super League deal". Sky Sports. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
  14. James Chapelard (28 July 2008). "Licence is Wilkinson's reward for years of support". Crain's Manchester Business. Archived from the original on 7 August 2010. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
  15. John Ledger (27 November 2007). "Super League cashes in". Sky Sports. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
  16. engage Super League (Press Release) (15 November 2008). "Channel Nine to show English Super League and Challenge Cup". RLeague.com. Archived from the original on 16 October 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2008.
  17. SportBusiness (17 November 2008). "Channel Nine inks RFL deals". SportsBusiness. Archived from the original on 26 May 2010. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
  18. Engage Super League expands its horizons in 2010 Archived 2010-02-08 at the Wayback Machine Engage Super League, 4 February 2010
  19. List of Super League games available Livestation.com Archived October 3, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
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