Super League XXII

The 2017 Super League season, known as the Betfred Super League XXII for sponsorship reasons,[2] was the 22nd season of Super League and 123rd season of rugby league in Britain. 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 XXIII.

Super League XXII
LeagueSuper League
Duration30 Rounds (Followed by 2 rounds of relevant playoffs)
Teams12
Highest attendance35,361
Magic Weekend (Day 1)
Lowest attendance2,678 Salford Red Devils Vs Hull F.C. (9 June 2017)
Average attendance8,568
Attendance1,182,437
Broadcast partners Sky Sports
BBC Sport
SLTV
Fox League
beIN Sports
Fox Soccer Plus
Sport Klub
2017 season
Champions Leeds Rhinos
8th Super League
11th English title
League Leaders Castleford Tigers
Runners-up Castleford Tigers
Biggest home win Castleford Tigers 66–10 Leeds Rhinos (2 March 2017)
Biggest away win Catalans Dragons 12–56 Huddersfield Giants (10 June 2017)
Man of Steel Luke Gale (Castleford Tigers) [1]
Top try-scorer(s) Greg Eden (Castleford Tigers) (38)
Promotion and relegation
Promoted from Championship Hull KR
Relegated to Championship Leigh Centurions

Super League XXII featured twelve teams, the third year in which this number has taken part. This was also the third year since promotion and relegation was reintroduced into the competition, seeing Leigh promoted and Hull KR relegated from last season.

Teams

Eleven teams in Super League are from the North of England. Six teams hail from the historic county of Lancashire, west of the Pennines: Warrington, St. Helens, Salford, Wigan, Leigh, and Widnes. Five teams hail from the historic county of Yorkshire, east of the Pennines: Huddersfield, Wakefield Trinity, Leeds, Castleford, and Hull F.C. 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.

Leigh were promoted from the Kingstone Press Championship after finishing in 2nd place in The Qualifiers for 2016. Leigh became the first club promoted to the Super League under the Super 8s system, and the first club promoted to Super League since Widnes received a license for Super League XVII. Leigh last competed in the top flight in Super League X. Hull Kingston Rovers were relegated to the Championship after losing the 2016 Million Pound Game to Salford.

West Yorkshire
Greater Manchester
Locations of Super League XXII teams
Locations of Super League XXII teams
Locations of Super League XXII teams in West Yorkshire
Locations of Super League XXII teams in Greater Manchester
Team 2016 position Stadium Capacity City/Area
Castleford Tigers
(2017 season)		 5th The Mend-O-Hose Jungle 11,750 Castleford, West Yorkshire
Catalans Dragons
(2017 season)		 6th Stade Gilbert Brutus 14,000 Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales, France
Huddersfield Giants
(2017 season)		 12th John Smith's Stadium 24,544 Huddersfield, West Yorkshire
Hull
(2017 season)		 3rd KCOM Stadium 25,404 Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire
Leigh Centurions
(2017 season)		 Promoted Leigh Sports Village 12,700 Leigh, Greater Manchester
Leeds Rhinos
(2017 season)		 9th Headingley Carnegie Stadium 22,250 Leeds, West Yorkshire
Salford Red Devils
(2017 season)		 10th AJ Bell Stadium 12,000 Salford, Greater Manchester
St. Helens
(2017 season)		 4th Totally Wicked Stadium 18,000 St. Helens, Merseyside
Wakefield Trinity
(2017 season)		 8th Beaumont Legal Stadium 11,000 Wakefield, West Yorkshire
Warrington Wolves
(2017 season)		 1st Halliwell Jones Stadium 15,500 Warrington, Cheshire
Widnes Vikings
(2017 season)		 7th The Select Security Stadium 13,500 Widnes, Cheshire
Wigan Warriors
(2017 season)		 2nd (Champions) DW Stadium 25,138 Wigan, Greater Manchester

Regular season
Main article: Super League XXII results

Standings at end of regular season
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts Qualification
1 Castleford Tigers 23 20 0 3 769 378 +391 40 Super 8s
2 Leeds Rhinos 23 15 0 8 553 477 +76 30
3 Hull F.C. 23 13 1 9 541 483 +58 27
4 Salford Red Devils 23 13 0 10 576 500 +76 26
5 Wakefield Trinity 23 13 0 10 572 509 +63 26
6 St. Helens 23 12 1 10 516 420 +96 25
7 Wigan Warriors 23 10 3 10 539 518 +21 23
8 Huddersfield Giants 23 9 3 11 519 486 +33 21
9 Warrington Wolves 23 9 2 12 426 557 −131 20 The Qualifiers
10 Catalans Dragons 23 7 1 15 469 689 −220 15
11 Leigh Centurions 23 6 0 17 425 615 −190 12
12 Widnes Vikings 23 5 1 17 359 632 −273 11
Source:

Super 8s
Main article: 2017 Super 8s

Format

After 23 games the league table was frozen and the teams were split up into 2 of the 5 "Super 8s". The teams finishing in the top 8 went on to contest the "Super League Super 8s" to determine which teams would go through to the semi-final play-offs to compete for a place in the Grand Final. Teams finishing in the bottom four (9-12) were put alongside the top 4 teams from the Championship, in "The Qualifiers" Super 8 group, where these teams will reset their season standings to 0 and also play 7 extra games each, as they attempt to earn a place in the following Super League competition.

Castleford Tigers topped the Super League Super 8s and were awarded the League Leaders Shield as well as a home advantage in the play-off semi-finals. The other home advantage was won by Leeds Rhinos with Hull and St Helens taking the other two places in the play-offs.

Results
Main article: Super League XXII Super 8s results

Final standings
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts Qualification
1 Castleford Tigers 30 25 0 5 965 536 +429 50 League Leaders Shield/Playoffs
2 Leeds Rhinos 30 20 0 10 749 623 +126 40 Playoffs
3 Hull F.C. 30 17 1 12 714 655 +59 35
4 St Helens 30 16 1 13 663 518 +145 33
5 Wakefield Trinity 30 16 0 14 714 679 +35 32 Eliminated
6 Wigan Warriors 30 14 3 13 691 668 +23 31
7 Salford Red Devils 30 14 0 16 680 728 −48 28
8 Huddersfield Giants 30 11 3 16 663 680 −17 25
Source:

Playoffs
# Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time (Local) Venue Referee Attendance
Semi-finals
SF1 Castleford Tigers 23–22[lower-alpha 1] St. Helens 28 September 2017, 19:45 BST Mend-A-Hose Jungle James Child 11,235
SF2 Leeds Rhinos 18–16 Hull 29 September 2017, 19:45 BST Headingley Carnegie Phil Bentham 12,500
Source:[3]
Grand final
F Castleford Tigers 6–24 Leeds Rhinos 7 October 2017, 18:00 BST Old Trafford James Child 72,827
Source:[4]
  1. After extra time

The Qualifiers

The Qualifiers

The Qualifiers sees the bottom 4 teams from Super League table 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 will gain qualification to the 2018 Super League season. The teams finishing 4th and 5th will play in the "Million Pound Game" at the home of the 4th place team which will earn the winner a place in the 2018 Super League. The loser, along with teams finishing 6th, 7th and 8th, will be relegated to the Championship.

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts Qualification
1 Warrington Wolves 7 7 0 0 288 138 +150 14 Promoted to Super League XXIII
2 Widnes Vikings 7 5 0 2 188 96 +92 10
3 Hull Kingston Rovers 7 5 0 2 166 158 +8 10
4 Leigh Centurions 7 4 0 3 203 104 +99 8 Million Pound Game
5 Catalans Dragons 7 4 0 3 130 143 −13 8
6 London Broncos 7 1 1 5 174 220 −46 3 Relegated to 2018 Championship
7 Featherstone Rovers 7 1 1 5 100 272 −172 3
8 Halifax 7 0 0 7 82 210 −128 0
Source:

Million Pound Game
Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee Attendance
Leigh Centurions 10–26 Catalans Dragons 30 September 2017, 15:00 Leigh Sports Village Ben Thaler 6,888

Catalan's victory over Leigh ensured the continuation of Super League rugby in France for another season and meant Leigh were relegated to the Championship.

It also decided which four teams would enter the 2018 Challenge Cup at round 5 with the top three in the Qualifier and the winner of the Million Pound game forming the quartet.

Player statistics

Attendances
  • Statistics correct as of 23 July 2017 (round 23)

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:[5]

Media

Television

2017 is the first of a five-year contract with Sky Sports to televise 100 matches per season.[6]

Sky Sports coverage in the UK will see two live matches broadcast each week, usually at 8:00 pm on Thursday and Friday nights.[7]

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,[8] 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.[9] End of season play-offs are shown on BBC Two across the whole country in a weekly highlights package on Sunday afternoons.[10]

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:

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.

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References
  1. "Luke Gale crowned Man of Steel". Super League. 3 October 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  2. "First Utility powers title sponsorship of Super League". Super League. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  3. "Betfred Super League semi-finals". Rugby Leaguer & League Express (3090). 2 October 2017. p. 39.
  4. "McGuire leads Rhinos to a stunning win". Rugby Leaguer & League Express (3091). 9 October 2017. p. 16.
  5. "Man of Steel on SLTV". Super League. 6 October 2009. Archived from the original on 25 August 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2009.
  6. Sky Sports (31 January 2014). "Super League deal". Sky Sports. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  7. Sky Sports (18 February 2012). "Rugby League live on Sky". Sky Sports. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
  8. BBC Sport (3 February 2012). "BBC's Super League Show returns". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
  9. BBC. "BBC One - Super League Show". BBC. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
  10. "BBC Two - Rugby League: Super League Play-Offs - Highlights". BBC. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
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