| Super League XV | |
|---|---|
| League | Super League |
| Duration | 27 Rounds |
| Teams | 14 |
| Lowest attendance | 2,330 Harlequins vsCatalans Dragons (14 February) |
| Average attendance | 9,615[1] |
| Attendance | 990,439[1] |
| Broadcast partners | Sky Sports Nine Network Orange Sport America One Sport Klub |
| 2010 season | |
| Champions | Wigan Warriors 2ndSuper League title 19thBritish 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) |
Engage Super League XV was the official name for the 2010 Super League season.[2] Fourteen teams competed over 27 rounds. The season officially kicked off on 5 February with theCrusaders versus theLeeds Rhinos on 29 January at Crusaders' new homeground at theRacecourse Ground inWrexham. Crusaders halfbackMichael 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.
The season came to a conclusion withWigan Warriors beatingSt. Helens 22-10 in theSuper League Grand Final on 2 October[3] with two tries forMartin Gleeson.
Super League XV was the second year of alicensed Super League. Under this system, promotion and relegation between Super League andNational 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 teamSalford City Reds andCrusaders.
Geographically, the vast majority of teams in Super League are based in the north ofEngland, four teams –Warrington,St. Helens,Salford andWigan – to the west ofthe Pennines in Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside, and seven teams to the east in Yorkshire –Huddersfield,Bradford,Wakefield Trinity,Leeds,Castleford,Hull F.C. andHull Kingston Rovers.Catalans Dragons are the only team based inFrance and are outside of theUnited Kingdom.Crusaders are the only team inWales, andHarlequins are the only team to be based in a capital city (London).
| Reigning champions |
The RFL announced two new rule interpretations intended to increase player safety in the tackle:[4]
The 'club trained player rule' entered its third year and made a planned adjustment:[5]
January
February
April
May
August
September
October
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Wigan Warriors(L, C) | 27 | 22 | 0 | 5 | 922 | 411 | +511 | 44 | Play-offs |
| 2 |  St Helens | 27 | 20 | 0 | 7 | 946 | 547 | +399 | 40 | |
| 3 |  Warrington Wolves | 27 | 20 | 0 | 7 | 885 | 488 | +397 | 40 | |
| 4 |  Leeds Rhinos | 27 | 17 | 1 | 9 | 725 | 561 | +164 | 35 | |
| 5 |  Huddersfield Giants | 27 | 16 | 1 | 10 | 758 | 439 | +319 | 33 | |
| 6 |  Hull F.C. | 27 | 16 | 0 | 11 | 569 | 584 | −15 | 32 | |
| 7 |  Hull Kingston Rovers | 27 | 14 | 1 | 12 | 653 | 632 | +21 | 29 | |
| 8 |  Celtic Crusaders | 27 | 12 | 0 | 15 | 547 | 732 | −185 | 24 | |
| 9 |  Castleford Tigers | 27 | 11 | 0 | 16 | 648 | 766 | −118 | 22 | |
| 10 |  Bradford Bulls | 27 | 9 | 1 | 17 | 528 | 728 | −200 | 19 | |
| 11 |  Wakefield Trinity Wildcats | 27 | 9 | 0 | 18 | 539 | 741 | −202 | 18 | |
| 12 |  Salford City Reds | 27 | 8 | 0 | 19 | 448 | 857 | −409 | 16 | |
| 13 |  Harlequins | 27 | 7 | 0 | 20 | 494 | 838 | −344 | 14 | |
| 14 |  Catalans Dragons | 27 | 6 | 0 | 21 | 409 | 747 | −338 | 12 |
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 uniqueSuper League play-off system. The finals will conclude with the2010 Super League Grand Final.
| Qualifying/Elimination playoffs | Preliminary semifinals | Qualifying semifinals | Grand Final | |||||||||||||||
| 2 | St. Helens | 28 | ||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Warrington Wolves | 12 | ||||||||||||||||
| Warrington Wolves | 22 | |||||||||||||||||
| Huddersfield Giants | 34 | St Helensselected Huddersfield[9] | ||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Huddersfield Giants | 18 | St Helens | 42 | ||||||||||||||
| 8 | Crusaders | 12 | Huddersfield Giants | 22 | 2 October,Old Trafford | |||||||||||||
| St Helens | 10 | |||||||||||||||||
| Wigan Warriors | 22 | |||||||||||||||||
| 6 | Hull | 4 | Leeds Rhinos | 6 | ||||||||||||||
| 7 | Hull KR | 21 | Wigan Warriors | 26 | ||||||||||||||
| Hull KR | 18 | |||||||||||||||||
| Wigan Warriors | 42 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Wigan Warriors | 26 | ||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Leeds Rhinos | 27 | ||||||||||||||||
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 byclub 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 have been presented for outstanding contributions and efforts to players and clubs:[10]
The following table lists all incidents that were reviewed by theRugby 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".
2010 was the second of a three-year broadcasting agreement between the RFL andBSkyB forSky 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 areEddie Hemmings andMike Stephenson with summarisers includingPhil Clarke,Barrie McDermott andTerry O'Connor. Highlights are shown onBoots N' All which is shown on Sky Sports and is rebroadcast on the Internet.[citation needed]
BBC Sport broadcast a highlights programme called theSuper League Show, usually presented byHarry Gration. The BBC have elected to broadcast this only to theNorth West,Yorkshire and North Midlands,North East and Cumbria, andEast 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 theBBC 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 onShowtime Sports (Middle East),Sky Sport (New Zealand),NTV+ (Russia),SportKlub (Eastern Europe).
2010 was the second year of a three-year deal in which theNine Network in Australia show up to 70 live games from Super League over the season.[16][17]
In theUnited StatesAmerica 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.
Super League XV is covered extensively byBBC Local Radio:
The competition is also covered on commercial radio coverage:
All Super League commentaries on any station are available via the particular stations on-line streaming.
ESPN3 has worldwide broadband rights.
Starting from 9 April 2009, all of the matches shown on Sky Sports are also available live online viaLivestation 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.