Super League XXIII

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Super League XXIII
LeagueSuper League
Duration30 Rounds (Followed by 2 rounds of relevant playoffs)
Teams12
Highest attendance64,892
Grand Final (13 October 2018)
Lowest attendance2,248
Redscolours.svg Salford Red Devils Vs Widnes colours.svg Widnes Vikings (15 June 2018)
Average attendance8,547
Attendance1,166,425
Broadcast partnersUnited Kingdom Sky Sports
United Kingdom BBC Sport
United Kingdom SLTV
Australia Fox League
France beIN Sports
United States Fox Soccer Plus
Europe Sport Klub
2018 season
ChampionsWigancolours.svg Wigan Warriors
5th Super League Title
22nd English title
League Leaders ShieldSaintscolours.svg St. Helens
Runners-upWolvescolours.svg Warrington Wolves
Biggest home winWolvescolours.svg Warrington Wolves 80–10 Hullcolours.svg Hull F.C. (30 August 2018)
Biggest away winRedscolours.svg Salford Red Devils 10–60 Saintscolours.svg St. Helens (26 April 2018)
Man of SteelAustralia Ben Barba
(St. Helens)
Top point-scorer(s)England Danny Richardson (St. Helens) (296)
Top try-scorer(s)Australia Ben Barba (St. Helens) (28)
Promotion and relegation
Promoted from ChampionshipBroncoscolours.png London Broncos
Relegated to ChampionshipWidnes colours.svg Widnes Vikings
2019 →

The 2018 Super League season, known as the Betfred Super League XXIII for sponsor reasons,[1] was the 23rd season of the Super League and 124th season of rugby league in Britain. It was won by Wigan Warriors, who were crowned champions after beating Warrington Wolves 12-4. It was Wigan's 22nd Championship win and a new record for being champions. They are now 9 titles ahead of the next team.[2]

Twelve teams competed over 23 rounds, including the Magic Weekend, which took place at St James' Park, Newcastle upon Tyne, after which the eight highest entered the Super League play-offs for a place in the Super League Grand Final. The four lowest teams then entered the qualifying play-offs, along with the four highest teams from the Championship, to determine which teams will play again in Super League XXIV.

Leeds Rhinos were the reigning champions going into the season, but after a run of 10 games without a win, they were condemned to The Qualifiers.

This season also saw the first Super League game played outside Europe, as Wigan Warriors faced Hull F.C. at WIN Stadium in Wollongong, Australia on Saturday 10 February 2018, which Wigan won, 24–10.

St. Helens won the League Leaders Shield for a record 6th time. However, they failed to reach the Grand Final after losing their semi final 13-18 to Warrington Wolves. This marked the first time since Huddersfield in 2013 that the League Leaders would not make it to the Grand Final.

Widnes Vikings were relegated to the Championship, after only 3 wins saw them finish bottom of the regular season and condemned to The Qualifiers. To which they only managed to gain 1 win, which was against Halifax.

London Broncos won the Million Pound Game by beating Toronto Wolfpack 4–2 and were promoted to the Super League, returning to Super League 4 years after they were relegated.

Ben Barba was crowned the Man of Steel, beating teammate James Roby and John Bateman of Wigan Warriors.[3]

Teams[]

Eleven teams in Super League are from the North of England. Five teams hail from the historic county of Lancashire, west of the Pennines: Warrington, St. Helens, Salford, Wigan, and Widnes. Six teams hail from the historic county of Yorkshire, east of the Pennines: Huddersfield, Wakefield Trinity, Leeds, Castleford, Hull KR and Hull FC. Catalans Dragons, located in Perpignan, France, are the only team outside the North of England. St Helens, Wigan Warriors, Warrington Wolves, and Leeds Rhinos are the only teams to have played in every season of Super League since 1996.

Hull KR were promoted from the Championship after finishing in 2nd place in The Qualifiers for 2017 whilst Leigh were relegated to the Championship after losing the 2017 Million Pound Game to Catalans.

Super League XXIII is located in Northern England
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
Wigan
Wigan
Salford
Salford
St. Helens
St. Helens
Warrington
Widnes
Hull
Hull
Hull KR
Hull KR
Locations of Super League XXIII teams
Super League XXIII is located in France
Catalans
Catalans
Locations of Super League XXIII teams
Super League XXIII is located in West Yorkshire
Castleford
Castleford
Huddersfield
Huddersfield
Leeds
Wakefield
Wakefield
Locations of Super League XXIII teams in West Yorkshire


Team 2017 position Stadium Capacity City/Area
Castleford colours.svg Castleford Tigers
(2018 season) 		1st (League Leaders/Runners-Up) The Mend-A-Hose Jungle 11,750 Castleford, West Yorkshire
Catalanscolours.svg Catalans Dragons
(2018 season) 		10th Stade Gilbert Brutus 14,000 Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales, France
Giantscolours.svg Huddersfield Giants
(2018 season) 		8th John Smith's Stadium 24,544 Huddersfield, West Yorkshire
Hullcolours.svg Hull
(2018 season) 		3rd KCOM Stadium 25,404 Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire
HKRcolours.svg Hull Kingston Rovers
() 		Promoted Lightstream Stadium 12,225 Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire
Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds Rhinos
(2018 season) 		2nd (Champions) Headingley Carnegie Stadium 22,250 Leeds, West Yorkshire
Redscolours.svg Salford Red Devils
() 		7th AJ Bell Stadium 12,000 Salford, Greater Manchester
Saintscolours.svg St. Helens
() 		4th Totally Wicked Stadium 18,000 St. Helens, Merseyside
Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity
() 		5th Beaumont Legal Stadium 11,000 Wakefield, West Yorkshire
Wolvescolours.svg Warrington Wolves
(2018 season) 		9th Halliwell Jones Stadium 15,500 Warrington, Cheshire
Widnes colours.svg Widnes Vikings
() 		12th The Select Security Stadium 13,500 Widnes, Cheshire
Wigancolours.svg Wigan Warriors
(2018 season) 		6th DW Stadium 25,138 Wigan, Greater Manchester

Regular-season results[]

Main article: Super League XXIII results

Regular-season standings[]

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts Qualification
1 Saintscolours.svg St. Helens 23 21 0 2 713 298 +415 42 Super 8s
2 Wigancolours.svg Wigan Warriors 23 16 0 7 573 345 +228 32
3 Castleford colours.svg Castleford Tigers 23 15 1 7 567 480 +87 31
4 Wolvescolours.svg Warrington Wolves 23 14 1 8 531 410 +121 29
5 Giantscolours.svg Huddersfield Giants 23 11 1 11 427 629 −202 23
6 Hullcolours.svg Hull F.C. 23 11 0 12 534 544 −10 22
7 Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity 23 10 1 12 581 506 +75 21
8 Catalanscolours.svg Catalans Dragons 23 10 1 12 488 531 −43 21
9 Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds Rhinos 23 8 2 13 431 527 −96 18 The Qualifiers
10 HKRcolours.svg Hull KR 23 8 1 14 476 582 −106 17
11 Redscolours.svg Salford Red Devils 23 7 0 16 384 597 −213 14
12 Widnes colours.svg Widnes Vikings 23 3 0 20 387 653 −266 6
Source: [1]


Super 8s[]

Format[]

After 23 games the league table is frozen, and the teams are split up into two of Super 8s. The teams finishing in the top eight go on to contest the Super League Super 8s, to determine which teams go through to the semi-final play-offs, to compete for a place in the Super League Grand Final on 13 October. Each teams points are carried over from the previous 23 games, and each teams play each other one more time, a total of seven further games per team.

The Super League Super 8s sees the top eight teams from the Super League, play each other one more time (seven games each). Each team's points are carried over from the previous 23 games, and after seven rounds, the top four teams will then make up the play off semi-finals, with the team finishing first (St. Helens) hosting the team in fourth (Warrington Wolves), and the team finishing second (Wigan Warriors), hosting the team finishing third (Castleford Tigers). The winners of these semi-finals will then contest the Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford on 13 October 2018.

Round 1[]

Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee Attendance
Hullcolours.svg Hull F.C. 13–31 Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity 10 August 2018, 19:45 KCOM Stadium Jack Smith 10,301
Saintscolours.svg St. Helens 12–16 Giantscolours.svg Huddersfield Giants 10 August 2018, 19:45 Totally Wicked Stadium Scott Mikalauskas 8,979
Wolvescolours.svg Warrington Wolves 56–6 Catalanscolours.svg Catalans Dragons 10 August 2018, 19:45 Halliwell Jones Stadium Ben Thaler 8,032
Wigancolours.svg Wigan Warriors 24–22 Castleford colours.svg Castleford Tigers 10 August 2018, 19:45 DW Stadium James Child 10,293

Round 2[]

Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee Attendance
Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity 16–36 Saintscolours.svg St Helens 16 August 2018, 19:45 The Mobile Rocket Stadium Liam Moore 4,295
Castleford colours.svg Castleford Tigers 28–18 Wolvescolours.svg Warrington Wolves 17 August 2018, 19:45 Mend-A-Hose Jungle Gareth Hewer 7,142
Giantscolours.svg Huddersfield Giants 24–6 Hullcolours.svg Hull F.C. 17 August 2018, 19:45 John Smith's Stadium Robert Hicks 4,499
Catalanscolours.svg Catalans Dragons 6–35 Wigancolours.svg Wigan Warriors 18 August 2018, 17:15 Stade Gilbert Brutus Greg Dolan 6,739

Round 3[]

Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee Attendance
Wolvescolours.svg Warrington Wolves 80–10 Hullcolours.svg Hull 30 August 2018, 19:45 Halliwell Jones Stadium Liam Moore 8,101
Giantscolours.svg Huddersfield Giants 16–42 Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity 31 August 2018, 19:45 John Smith's Stadium Gareth Hewer 4,963
Saintscolours.svg St. Helens 10–30 Wigancolours.svg Wigan Warriors 31 August 2018, 19:45 Totally Wicked Stadium Chris Kendall 14,061
Castleford colours.svg Castleford Tigers 36–4 Catalanscolours.svg Catalans Dragons 1 September 2018, 19:45 Mend-A-Hose Jungle Greg Dolan 7,658

Round 4[]

Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee Attendance
Wigancolours.svg Wigan Warriors 25–10 Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity 6 September 2018, 19:45 DW Stadium Ben Thaler 9,959
Hullcolours.svg Hull F.C. 8–28 Castleford colours.svg Castleford Tigers 7 September 2018, 19:45 KCOM Stadium Gareth Hewer 10,570
Wolvescolours.svg Warrington Wolves 26–24 Giantscolours.svg Huddersfield Giants 7 September 2018, 19:45 Halliwell Jones Stadium James Child 9,076
Catalanscolours.svg Catalans Dragons 22–26 Saintscolours.svg St. Helens 8 September 2018, 17:15 Stade Gilbert Brutus Liam Moore 7,190

Round 5[]

Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee Attendance
Castleford colours.svg Castleford Tigers 44–12 Giantscolours.svg Huddersfield Giants 13 September 2018, 19:45 Mend-A-Hose Jungle Ben Thaler 7,279
Saintscolours.svg St. Helens 38–12 Hullcolours.svg Hull F.C. 14 September 2018, 19:45 Totally Wicked Stadium Chris Kendall 9,348
Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity 34–22 Catalanscolours.svg Catalans Dragons 14 September 2018, 19:45 The Mobile Rocket Stadium Scott Mikalauskas 4,030
Wigancolours.svg Wigan Warriors 26–6 Wolvescolours.svg Warrington Wolves 14 September 2018, 19:45 DW Stadium Robert Hicks 12,372

Round 6[]

Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee Attendance
Giantscolours.svg Huddersfield Giants 6–13 Wigancolours.svg Wigan Warriors 20 September 2018, 19:45 John Smith's Stadium* Greg Dolan 4,197
Castleford colours.svg Castleford Tigers 42–10 Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity 21 September 2018, 19:45 Mend-A-Hose Jungle Gareth Hewer 7,860
Wolvescolours.svg Warrington Wolves 14–34 Saintscolours.svg St. Helens 22 September 2018, 15:15 Halliwell Jones Stadium Chris Kendall 10,747
Hullcolours.svg Hull F.C. 20–26 Catalanscolours.svg Catalans Dragons 22 September 2018, 17:00 KCOM Stadium M Griffiths 10,467
  • Game moved to Huddersfield, due to Wigan Athletic's fixture with Bristol City, now being played on the same day.

Round 7[]

Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee Attendance
Saintscolours.svg St. Helens 26–0 Castleford colours.svg Castleford Tigers 28 September 2018, 19:45 Totally Wicked Stadium Scott Mikalauskas 9,813
Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity 23–36 Wolvescolours.svg Warrington Wolves 28 September 2018, 19:45 The Mobile Rocket Stadium Marcus Griffiths 4,140
Wigancolours.svg Wigan Warriors 14–12 Hullcolours.svg Hull F.C. 28 September 2018, 19:45 DW Stadium Liam Moore 11,189
Catalanscolours.svg Catalans Dragons 22-12 Giantscolours.svg Huddersfield Giants 29 September 2018, 17:15 Stade Gilbert Brutus Greg Dolan 7,304

Final standings[]

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts Qualification
1 Saintscolours.svg St. Helens 30 26 0 4 885 408 +477 52 League Leaders Shield/Playoffs
2 Wigancolours.svg Wigan Warriors 30 23 0 7 740 417 +323 46 Playoffs
3 Castleford colours.svg Castleford Tigers 30 20 1 9 767 582 +185 41
4 Wolvescolours.svg Warrington Wolves 30 18 1 11 767 561 +206 37
5 Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity 30 13 1 16 747 696 +51 27
6 Giantscolours.svg Huddersfield Giants 30 13 1 16 537 794 −257 27
7 Catalanscolours.svg Catalans Dragons 30 12 1 17 596 750 −154 25
8 Hullcolours.svg Hull F.C. 30 11 0 19 615 786 −171 22
Updated to match(es) played on 28 September 2018. Source: [2]


Playoffs[]

Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time (Local) Venue Referee Attendance
Semi-finals
Saintscolours.svg St. Helens 13–18 Wolvescolours.svg Warrington Wolves 4 October 2018, 19:45 Totally Wicked Stadium Robert Hicks 12,031
Wigancolours.svg Wigan Warriors 14–0 Castleford colours.svg Castleford Tigers 5 October 2018, 19:45 DW Stadium Ben Thaler 13,461

Grand Final[]

Main article: 2018 Super League Grand Final

Final[]

13 October 2018
6:00 pm BST
Wigancolours.svg Wigan Warriors 12–4 Wolvescolours.svg Warrington Wolves
Try: Manfredi (2), Davies
 Try: Charnley
Old Trafford, Manchester
Attendance: 64,892
Referee: Robert Hicks
Player of the Match: Stefan Ratchford (Warrington)

Wigan Warriors[]

Wigan finished 2nd in regular season and seven consecutive wins in the Super 8's saw them secure 2nd place in the table. A 14–0 victory over Castleford Tigers in the semi-final earned Wigan a place in their 10th Grand Final.

This is the first time that a team has won all 7 Super 8's games in a single season, and since this playoff format will be abandoned at the end of the 2018 season, will make this a unique historic feat achieved by Wigan.

Warrington Wolves[]

Warrington finished 4th to earn an away trip to League Leaders Shield winners St. Helens in the semi finals. Warrington won 18-13 with a late try by Tom Lineham. Warrington will be contesting their 4th Grand Final.

Match details[]

This match was Shaun Wane's last game as Wigan coach before going to Scotland Rugby Union after 7 seasons as head coach of Wigan.

Teams[]

Wigan Warriors Position Warrington Wolves
#1 Sam Tomkins Fullback #1 Stefan Ratchford
#21 Dominic Manfredi Wing #2 Tom Lineham
#4 Oliver Gildart Centre #3 Bryson Goodwin
#3 Dan Sarginson Centre #19 Toby King
#2 Tom Davies Wing #27 Josh Charnley
#6 George Williams Stand-off #6 Kevin Brown
#9 Thomas Leuluai Scrum-half #7 Tyrone Roberts
#25 Romain Navarette Prop #8 Chris Hill
#7 Sam Powell Hooker #9 Daryl Clark
#10 Ben Flower Prop #10 Mike Cooper
#40 Joe Greenwood Second-row #30 Bodene Thompson
#14 John Bateman Second-row #12 Jack Hughes
#13 Sean O'Loughlin Loose forward #34 Ben Westwood
#20 Morgan Escare Interchange #17 Joe Philbin
#19 Ryan Sutton Interchange #13 Ben Murdoch-Masila
#12 Liam Farrell Interchange #19 George King
#8 Tony Clubb Interchange #15 Declan Patton
Shaun Wane Coach Steve Price

Player statistics[]

Discipline[]


Attendances[]

  • Statistics correct as of 27 July 2018 (Round 23)

The Qualifiers[]

Main article: 2018 Rugby League Qualifiers

Format[]

The Qualifiers sees the bottom four teams from Super League join the top 4 teams from the Championship. The points totals are reset to zero and each team plays seven games each, playing every other team once. The teams finishing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd will gain qualification to the 2019 Super League season. The teams finishing 4th and 5th will play in the "Million Pound Game" at the home of the 4th place team to determine who will take the final place to gain promotion to Super League XXIV. The loser, along with teams finishing 6th, 7th and 8th, will be relegated to the Championship.

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:[4]

  • Coach of the year: England Shaun Wane (Wigan Warriors)
  • Foundation of the year: Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds Rhinos
  • Hit Man: England Paul McShane (Castleford Tigers) (1160 tackles)
  • Man of Steel: Australia Ben Barba (St. Helens)
  • Metre-maker: Tonga Bill Tupou (Wakefield Trinity) (4114 Metres)
  • Rhino "Top Gun": England Luke Gale (Castleford Tigers)
  • Super League Club of The Year: Wolvescolours.svg Warrington Wolves
  • Top Try Scorer: Australia Ben Barba (St. Helens) (28)
  • Young player of the year: England Jake Trueman (Castleford Tigers)

Media[]

Television[]

2018 is the second of a five-year contract with Sky Sports to televise 100 matches per season.[5]

Sky Sports coverage in the UK will see two live matches broadcast each week, usually at 8:00 pm on Thursday and Friday nights.[6]

Regular commentators will be Eddie Hemmings 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,[7] 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 month after broadcast for streaming or download via the BBC iPlayer in the UK only.[8] End of season play-offs are shown on BBC Two across the whole country in a weekly highlights package on Sunday afternoons.[9]

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 F.C. matches.
  • BBC Radio Leeds carry commentaries featuring Leeds, Castleford, Wakefield and Huddersfield.
  • BBC Radio Manchester will carry commentary of Leigh, 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[]

  1. ^ "First Utility powers title sponsorship of Super League". Super League. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  2. ^ "Super League Grand Final: Wigan claim fifth title with victory over Warrington". BBC Sport. 13 October 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
  3. ^ "Ben Barba crowned Man of Steel". BBC Sport. 8 October 2018.
  4. ^ "Man of Steel on SLTV". Super League. 6 October 2009. Archived from the original on 25 August 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2009.
  5. ^ Sky Sports (31 January 2014). "Super League deal". Sky Sports. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  6. ^ Sky Sports (18 February 2012). "Rugby League live on Sky". Sky Sports. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
  7. ^ BBC Sport (3 February 2012). "BBC's Super League Show returns". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
  8. ^ BBC. "BBC One - Super League Show". BBC. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
  9. ^ "BBC Two - Rugby League: Super League Play-Offs - Highlights". BBC. Retrieved 14 September 2013.

External links[]

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