Super League XX live on Sky Sports – TV guide

SOTB

12 years ago

Rugby League’s First Utility Super League has been given an exciting makeover for its 20th campaign and fans can follow all the drama throughout the 2015 season with Sky Sports.

This year’s campaign promises to be as competitive as it has ever been as Super League enters its third decade with a new streamlined 12-team top tier battling it out throughout the next nine months to be crowned champions in October’s Grand Final at Old Trafford, with the league adopting the bold tagline ‘every minute matters’.

While the format of the regular season remains largely unchanged, the post-season has been given a sizeable redevelopment, with the re- introduction of promotion and relegation to the division, something which many traditionalists have been calling out for over the past few years.

Once the regular season is concluded, the 24 teams making up Super League and the second-tier RFL Championship will be divided into three groups of eight, the first of which is made up of the top eight sides in Super League, the second of the bottom four in Super League and top four from the Championship, and the third of the bottom eight in the second tier.

The top group then compete for the Super League title, while the bottom group fight for the Championship Shield, though arguably the most intriguing story in this new format, though, comes in the second pool of teams.

This group first adopts a league format, with each team meeting once, and at the end of that phase, the top three ranked teams earn a place in Super League in 2016, while those finishing fourth and fifth meet in a play-off for the final berth, with the final three teams dropping into the Championship.

These new exciting regulations, which have been widely welcomed with the rugby league community on all sides, mean up to four teams can be promoted in one season, bringing with it the return of the agony and ecstasy of promotion and relegation to the northern hemisphere’s premier domestic rugby league competition.

Defending champions St Helens begin their Super League defence against Catalans Dragons in one of the first live games of the season on Sky Sports, with the Saints and 2014 Grand Final runners-up Wigan Warriors the joint favourites to finish top.

But with just three points having separated the top five sides at the end of the 2014 season, it will be hard to predict the four contenders who will make it to the end of season play-off semi-finals at the end of the season, with those four teams then just one game away from the Grand Final.

It’s a new era for rugby league in 2015 and Sky Sports will show live matches from both Super League and the Championship throughout the season, while BBC Sport will have all the action covered in weekly editions of The Super League Show highlights show.

Sky Sports will show more rugby league than ever before this season with more than 90 games from Super League XX, as well as action from the Kingstone Rugby League Championship and Ladbrokes Challenge Cup.

The 2015 campaign gets under way on Thursday, February 5 as the Sky Sports cameras assemble at The Select Security Stadium to see Widnes Vikings play host to last year’s beaten finalists Wigan Warriors, while twenty-four hours later, reigning champions St Helens entertain Catalan Dragons at Langtree Park.

Eddie Hemmings and Mike Stephenson return to lead Sky Sports’ on-air presentation team alongside experts and reporters including Brian Carney, Phil Clarke, Barrie McDermott, Terry O’Connor, Jon Wells, Bill Arthur and Rod Studd.

Sky Sports’ extensive live coverage of the new-look Super League will again be complimented by a series of shows every week throughout the season.

Fans of rugby league can see every try from each round of the season on Super League Fulltime on Sunday nights, while Friday’s Super League Warm-Up show previews the weekend’s games.

Alongside exclusive online videos, reports and interviews via skysports.com/rugbyleague, rugby league fans can also get further insight and analysis into their favourite sport via the usual magazine programmes Boots ‘n’ All, Extra Time and Super League Superstars.

Alongside its Super League coverage, Sky Sports will also screen action from the Kingstone Press Championship, exclusively live coverage of the new-look World Club Series in February, plus selected Challenge Cup ties.

Commenting on the league structure, Sky Sports analyst Phil Clarke said: “For some it’s a radical restructuring, the first of its kind for a major team sport in the UK, a way to make every minute of every match matter. Every team in every game needs to win.

“It’s almost like bringing ‘sudden-death cup drama’ to a league format. The aim is to foster a more intense competition, raising the standards and making rugby league at all levels even stronger.

“Every sports fan loves the excitement of a knock-out competition and this is the first time that I have seen a league format attempt to recreate that. It sounds perfect.”

On the eve of last season, Sky Sports secured a new five-year Super League deal from 2017 onwards, taking the partnership between Sky and the RFL beyond 30 years.

This new agreement will guarantee Sky Sports viewers live rugby league for at least eight more seasons and also over 100 matches a season from 2015 when a new league structure will mean coverage of matches from a 12-team Championship alongside the 12-club Super League.

Full details of the Super League games confirmed for live broadcast this season on Sky Sports can be found below.

BBC Sport’s weekly rugby league programme – The Super League Show – will cover all the twists and turns throughout the season on terrestrial television when it returns to BBC One across the North for a 17th series on February 9.

Tanya Arnold will present extensive highlights from all the games in this historic season for rugby league as the sport enters a new era with a reworked Super League structure, where she will be joined by a host of big-name guests including Jon Wilkin, Darryl Powell, Jamie Peacock, Eorl Crabtree and Brian Noble.

The Super League Show will run through to September on BBC One North on Monday nights, with a nationwide showing on Tuesday lunchtimes on BBC Two, plus on-demand catch-up via BBC iPlayer, with the team reporting on all the twists and turns of the First Utility Super League XX, as well as following the personalities and dramas of the game both on and off the pitch.

St Helens’ defence of their title at home to Catalans Dragons will feature in the first programme, plus Tanya and team will weigh up the chances of the top clubs in the forthcoming landmark season as a new format for the rugby league kicks off.

In addition to The Super League Show, BBC Sport will also have live network coverage of seven Ladbrokes Challenge Cup matches throughout the competition, made up of two each over the sixth round, quarter finals and semi-finals and culminating in extensive coverage of the final on Saturday, August 29, plus highlights of the end-of-season Super League play-offs on BBC Two, including the play-off semi-finals and the grand final in October.

As well as the television offering – which sees rugby league on terrestrial television for 42 weeks of the year, plus catch up options on the BBC iPlayer – Radio 5 live sports extra, as well as BBC Local Radio stations, will also offer live commentary throughout the season.

2015 will also see the BBC Sport website have an increased week-in, week-out improved online offering, with more video, features and analysis via bbc.co.uk/rugbyleague, all of which will also be available via the BBC Sport App.

Commenting on the season ahead, Super League Show presenter Tanya Arnold said: “The new rugby league format has caused a stir, and is bound to offer lots of drama throughout the year, as the leagues split in July into the Super 8s.

“We will be following everything closely, bringing viewers a round up of all the action in this fantastic sport, in what promises to be a pivotal and exciting year for rugby league.”

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