The Super League XX, known as the First Utility Super League XX for sponsorship reasons,[1] was the 2015 season of Super League.
Twelve teams competed over 23 rounds, including the Magic Weekend, after which the eight highest entered the play-offs for a place in the Grand Final. The four lowest teams entered the Super League Qualifying Play-off, along with the four highest Championship teams, to decide which will play in Super League XXI.
Super League XX is the first year since 2008 in which there is a promotion and relegation with the Championship. Super League has been reduced to 12 teams as part of the re-structuring of Super League and the Championship.[2]
The regular season sees teams play each other home and away, and one team for a third time at the Magic Weekend. After 23 games, the "Super 8's" begin and the league is split into two mini leagues. Teams finishing in the top 8 compete in the Super League Super 8s while teams finishing in the bottom four will join the top 4 teams from the Championship in The Qualifiers to determine who will play in next seasons Super League.
The Super League Super 8's sees the top 8 Super League teams play 7 games each. Each team's points are carried over with top 4 teams entering the playoffs for the Super League Grand Final.
Source:[citation needed] Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Points difference; 3) Number of points scored; (C) Champions; (L)League Leaders Shield Winner
The Qualifiers
The Qualifiers sees the bottom 4 teams from Super League 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 gain qualification to Super League XXI in 2016. The teams finishing 4th and 5th playoff in the Million Pound Game for the final spot in next seasons Super League. The loser of the Million Pound Game along with the teams finishing 6th, 7th and 8th will play in next seasons Championship
2015 is the fourth year of a five-year contract with Sky Sports to televise 70 matches per season.[4] The deal which runs until 2016 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.[5]
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,[6] 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.[7] End of season play-offs are shown on BBC Two across the whole country in a weekly highlights package on Sunday afternoons.[8]
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 LiveRugby 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.
Zak Hardaker
