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Super League XXIII, 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 for 2018.
| Super League XXIII | |
|---|---|
| League | Super League |
| Duration | 30 Rounds |
| Teams | 12 |
| Highest attendance | 23,246 Leeds Rhinos Vs Castleford Tigers (23 March) |
| Lowest attendance | 2,248 Salford Red Devils Vs Widnes Vikings (15 June) |
| Average attendance | 8,547 |
| Attendance | 1,166,425 |
| Broadcast partners | Sky Sports BBC Sport Fox League beIN Sports Fox Soccer Plus Sport Klub |
| 2018 season | |
| Champions | Wigan Warriors 5th Super League Title 22nd British title |
| League Leaders Shield | St. Helens |
| Runners-up | Warrington Wolves |
| Biggest home win | Warrington Wolves 80–10 Hull F.C. (30 August) |
| Biggest away win | Salford Red Devils 10–60 St. Helens (26 April) |
| Man of Steel |  Ben Barba |
| Top point-scorer(s) |  Danny Richardson (296) |
| Top try-scorer(s) | Ben Barba (28) |
| Promotion and relegation | |
| Promoted from Championship | London Broncos |
| Relegated to Championship | Widnes Vikings |
Wigan Warriors were crowned champions after beating Warrington Wolves 12-4 to win their 22nd league Championship.[2]
Twelve teams competed over 23 rounds, including the Magic Weekend.
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.
Widnes Vikings were relegated to the Championship, after only 3 wins in the regular season and one win in The Qualifiers, while London Broncos were promoted after winning the Million Pound Game by beating Toronto Wolfpack 4–2.
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.
Locations of Super League XXIII teams
Locations of Super League XXIII teams
Locations of Super League XXIII teams in West Yorkshire
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  St. Helens |
23 | 21 | 0 | 2 | 713 | 298 | +415 | 42 | Super League Super 8s |
| 2 |  Wigan Warriors |
23 | 16 | 0 | 7 | 573 | 345 | +228 | 32 | |
| 3 |  Castleford Tigers |
23 | 15 | 1 | 7 | 567 | 480 | +87 | 31 | |
| 4 |  Warrington Wolves |
23 | 14 | 1 | 8 | 531 | 410 | +121 | 29 | |
| 5 |  Huddersfield Giants |
23 | 11 | 1 | 11 | 427 | 629 | −202 | 23 | |
| 6 |  Hull F.C. |
23 | 11 | 0 | 12 | 534 | 544 | −10 | 22 | |
| 7 |  Wakefield Trinity |
23 | 10 | 1 | 12 | 581 | 506 | +75 | 21 | |
| 8 |  Catalans Dragons |
23 | 10 | 1 | 12 | 488 | 531 | −43 | 21 | |
| 9 |  Leeds Rhinos |
23 | 8 | 2 | 13 | 441 | 527 | −86 | 18 | The Qualifiers |
| 10 |  Hull KR |
23 | 8 | 1 | 14 | 476 | 582 | −106 | 17 | |
| 11 |  Salford Red Devils |
23 | 7 | 0 | 16 | 384 | 597 | −213 | 14 | |
| 12 |  Widnes Vikings |
23 | 3 | 0 | 20 | 387 | 653 | −266 | 6 |
Source: Rugby League Project
Super League
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St. Helens (L) |
30 | 26 | 0 | 4 | 895 | 408 | +487 | 52 | Semi-finals |
| 2 | Wigan Warriors (C) |
30 | 23 | 0 | 7 | 740 | 417 | +323 | 46 | |
| 3 | Castleford Tigers |
30 | 20 | 1 | 9 | 767 | 582 | +185 | 41 | |
| 4 | Warrington Wolves |
30 | 18 | 1 | 11 | 767 | 561 | +206 | 37 | |
| 5 | Wakefield Trinity |
30 | 13 | 1 | 16 | 747 | 696 | +51 | 27 | |
| 6 | Huddersfield Giants |
30 | 13 | 1 | 16 | 539 | 794 | −255 | 27 | |
| 7 | Catalans Dragons |
30 | 12 | 1 | 17 | 596 | 750 | −154 | 25 | |
| 8 | Hull F.C. |
30 | 11 | 0 | 19 | 615 | 787 | −172 | 22 |
The Qualifiers
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Salford Red Devils |
7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 218 | 75 | +143 | 10 | Super League XXIV |
| 2 | Leeds Rhinos |
7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 216 | 137 | +79 | 10 | |
| 3 | Hull KR |
7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 197 | 162 | +35 | 10 | |
| 4 |  Toronto Wolfpack |
7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 136 | 118 | +18 | 10 | Million Pound Game |
| 5 |  London Broncos (P) |
7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 161 | 164 | −3 | 8 | |
| 6 |  Toulouse Olympique |
7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 156 | 190 | −34 | 6 | 2019 Championship |
| 7 | Widnes Vikings (R) |
7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 92 | 173 | −81 | 2 | |
| 8 |  Halifax |
7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 68 | 225 | −157 | 0 |
| Home | Score | Away | Match Information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date and Time (Local) | Venue | Referee | Attendance | |||||
| Semi-finals | ||||||||
| St. Helens |
13–18 | Warrington Wolves |
4 October 2018, 19:45 | Totally Wicked Stadium | Robert Hicks | 12,031 | ||
| Wigan Warriors |
14–0 | Castleford Tigers |
5 October 2018, 19:45 | DW Stadium | Ben Thaler | 13,461 | ||
Final
| Wigan Warriors |
12–4 | Warrington Wolves |
|---|---|---|
| Tries: Manfredi (2), Davies |
Tries: 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 |
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Average attendances
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Top 10 attendances
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- Statistics correct as of 27 July 2018 (Round 23)
Awards are presented for outstanding contributions and efforts to players and clubs in the week leading up to the Super League Grand Final:[3]
- Coach of the year:
Shaun Wane (Wigan Warriors) - Foundation of the year:
Leeds Rhinos - Hit Man: Paul McShane (Castleford Tigers) (1160 tackles)
- Man of Steel:
Ben Barba (St. Helens) - Metre-maker:
Bill Tupou (Wakefield Trinity) (4114 Metres) - Rhino "Top Gun": Luke Gale (Castleford Tigers)
- Super League Club of The Year:
Warrington Wolves - Top Try Scorer: Ben Barba (St. Helens) (28)
- Young player of the year: Jake Trueman (Castleford Tigers)
Television
2018 is the second of a five-year contract with Sky Sports to televise 100 matches per season.[4]
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]
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,[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 month 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]
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.
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