2015 RFL Championship

Last updated

Kingstone Press Championship 2015
League Championship
Duration23 Rounds (Followed by a league split into "Super 8's" for 7 more fixtures.)
Teams12
Highest attendance7,439
Leigh colours.svg Leigh Centurions Vs Bullscolours.svg Bradford Bulls
Lowest attendance300
Broncoscolours.png London Broncos Vs Workingtoncolours.svg Workington Town
Broadcast partners Sky Sports
2015 Season
Champions Leigh colours.svg Leigh Centurions
Championship Shield Fevcolours.svg Featherstone Rovers
Promotion and relegation
Relegated to League 1 Hunsletcolours.svg Hunslet Hawks
Doncaster colours.svg Doncaster

The 2015 Rugby Football League Championship, known as the Kingstone Press Championship for sponsorship reasons, was a professional rugby league football competition played in the UK, one tier below the Super League.

Contents

The 2015 Championship featured twelve teams, who played each other twice in the regular season, once at home and once away, totaling 22 games. The 2015 season also saw for the first time the Summer Bash Weekend, which was played at Bloomfield Road, Blackpool and created an additional round of fixtures. After 23 rounds in both the Championship and the Super League, the two divisions of twelve were split into the Rugby League Super 8s.

Leigh Centurions were the league leaders after 23 rounds and were thus deemed Champions for the 2015 season, while Hunslet Hawks and Doncaster were relegated following the culmination of the Super 8s.

Teams

The competition featured 12 teams, as opposed to the 14 seen in the previous year. The teams consisted of nine of the 14 teams from 2014, the Play-off winner of the 2014 Championship 1 season, which was Hunslet Hawks, and the two sides relegated from 2014 Super League, Bradford Bulls and London Broncos. Keighley Cougars, North Wales Crusaders, Rochdale Hornets, Swinton Lions, and Barrow Raiders who finished in the bottom five in 2015 were relegated into League One for 2015.

Legend
 Reigning champions
 Promoted
 Relegated
Team & Current SeasonStadiumCapacity2015 Average CrowdLocation
Batley colours.svg Batley Bulldogs loverugbyleague.com Stadium 6,0001,605 Batley, West Yorkshire
Bullscolours.svg Bradford Bulls Odsal Stadium 27,0004,360 Bradford, West Yorkshire
Ramscolours.svg Dewsbury Rams Tetley's Stadium 5,1001,689 Dewsbury, West Yorkshire
Doncaster colours.svg Doncaster Keepmoat Stadium 15,2311,595 Doncaster, South Yorkshire
Fevcolours.svg Featherstone Rovers Bigfellas Stadium 6,7502,277 Featherstone, West Yorkshire
Faxcolours.svg Halifax The Shay Stadium 6,5612,151 Halifax, West Yorkshire
Hunsletcolours.svg Hunslet Hawks South Leeds Stadium 4,0001,437 Leeds, West Yorkshire
Leigh colours.svg Leigh Centurions Leigh Sports Village 12,7003,177 Leigh, Greater Manchester
Broncoscolours.png London Broncos The Hive Stadium 5,1761,381 Canons Park, London
Sheffeagles colours.svg Sheffield Eagles Owlerton Stadium 4,0001,640 Sheffield, South Yorkshire
Haven colours.svg Whitehaven Recreation Ground 7,5001,527 Whitehaven, Cumbria
Workingtoncolours.svg Workington Town Derwent Park 10,0001,448 Workington, Cumbria


United Kingdom England adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
West Yorkshire
Locations of the 2015 RFL Championship teams
West Yorkshire UK location map.svg
Locations of the 2015 RFL Championship teams in West Yorkshire

Season standings

The regular league season saw the 12 teams play each other twice (one home, one away) over 24 matches. The top four teams at the end of the regular season qualified for "The Qualifiers", while the other eight teams contested the "Championship Shield".

PosTeamPldWDLPFPAPDPtsQualification
1 Leigh colours.svg Leigh Centurions 232111972343+62943 The Qualifiers
2 Bullscolours.svg Bradford Bulls 231814828387+44137
3 Sheffeagles colours.svg Sheffield Eagles 231706586451+13534
4 Faxcolours.svg Halifax 231607646377+26932
5 Fevcolours.svg Featherstone Rovers 2313010633565+6826Championship Shield
6 Ramscolours.svg Dewsbury Rams 2312110490461+2925
7 Broncoscolours.png London Broncos 2312011538510+2824
8 Workingtoncolours.svg Workington Town 23711537963125215
9 Batley colours.svg Batley Bulldogs 23701642153911814
10 Haven colours.svg Whitehaven 23701641867125314
11 Hunsletcolours.svg Hunslet Hawks 23501836276940710
12 Doncaster colours.svg Doncaster 2310222828515692
Source: Rugby League Project
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Points difference; 3) Number of points scored;

The Qualifiers Super 8's saw 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 2016 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 2016 Super League; the loser, along with teams finishing 6th, 7th and 8th, will be relegated to the Championship.

PosTeamPldWDLPFPAPDPtsQualification
1 HKRcolours.svg Hull Kingston Rovers 7700234118+11614 2016 Super League
2 Widnes colours.svg Widnes Vikings 750223270+16210
3 Redscolours.svg Salford City Reds 7502239203+3610
4 Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity Wildcats (W)7304153170176 Million Pound Game
5 Bullscolours.svg Bradford Bulls 7304167240736
6 Faxcolours.svg Halifax 7205162186244 2016 Championship
7 Sheffeagles colours.svg Sheffield Eagles 72051522671154
8 Leigh colours.svg Leigh Centurions 7106146231852
Source: Rugby League Project
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Points difference; 3) Number of points scored;
(W) Million Pound Game Winner
#HomeScoreAwayMatch Information
Date and Time (Local)VenueRefereeAttendance
Million Pound Game
F Wcatscolours.svg Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 24 – 16 Bullscolours.svg Bradford Bulls 3 October, 14:50 BST Belle Vue R. Silverwood7,246

The third of the three "Super 8" groups saw teams finishing 5th to 12th in the regular Championship table. Like the Super League 8's, these teams retained their original points and played 7 extra games, with the teams finishing in the top 4 places after these extra games contesting playoffs similar to Super League, with 1st v 4th and 2nd vs 3rd, with the winners contesting the Championship Shield Grand Final. The two teams finishing at the bottom of this Super 8s group (7th and 8th) were relegated to the League 1 2016 season, and replaced by the two 2015 League One promoted sides.

PositionClubPlayedWonDrawnLostPts forPts agstPoints
1 Fevcolours.svg Featherstone Rovers (Q)301901180970138
2 Ramscolours.svg Dewsbury Rams (Q)301711268662435
3 Broncoscolours.png London Broncos (Q)301501575667430
4 Workingtoncolours.svg Workington Town (Q)301111858778223
5 Batley colours.svg Batley Bulldogs 301002064570720
6 Haven colours.svg Whitehaven 301002061892120
7 Hunsletcolours.svg Hunslet Hawks (R)30802251895716
8 Doncaster colours.svg Doncaster (R)30202840111284

(Q) Qualified for the semi-final (R) Relegated to League 1

 Teams qualifying for the Championship Shield 2015 Semi-Finals.
 Teams relegated to 2016 League One.
#HomeScoreAwayMatch Information
Date and Time (Local)VenueRefereeAttendance
CHAMPIONSHIP SHIELD SEMI-FINALS
SF1 Fevcolours.svg Featherstone Rovers 52 – 14 Workingtoncolours.svg Workington Town 27 September, 15:00 Post Office Road, Featherstone 1,233
SF1 Ramscolours.svg Dewsbury Rams 18 – 34 Broncoscolours.png London Broncos 27 September, 15:00. Tetley's Stadium, Dewsbury 940
CHAMPIONSHIP SHIELD GRAND FINAL
F Fevcolours.svg Featherstone Rovers 34 – 6 Broncoscolours.png London Broncos Sunday 4 October, 4:30pm Select Security Stadium Chris Campbell4,179

See also

References