Category: Super League Rugby

Super League clubs are expected to increase the foreign quota from seven to 10 players next season. Should they?

Saturday night’s cracker between Castleford and Wigan at Wheldon Road was typical of Super League’s multicultural nature. The bulk of the away team’s points were scored by Australians; a Samoa international from Christchurch was the home side’s main creator; and a player born in Sydney with Maltese heritage was among the game’s outstanding performers. Castleford, with five overseas players, were narrowly beaten 26-20 by Wigan, who had four imports in their side.

Given that both teams are allowed seven overseas players, it seems strange that Super League clubs may vote next month to increase next season’s quota from seven players not trained in the European Federation to 10. Some clubs are already offering contracts based on the assumption that things will change.

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Red Devils lose 58-0 against St Helens but a winding-up petition was adjourned and they have received a £3m bridging loan

The start of a brighter future, or merely another false dawn? Only in the weeks to come will we know just what the latest developments off the field surrounding Salford Red Devils mean but on it these remain troubling and frustrating times.

The irony cannot have been lost on any Salford fan who was inside the Totally Wicked Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Four months ago, they began their season at the same venue amid huge controversy, after the Red Devils chose to field their academy side and lost 82-0 in protest against the salary-cap restrictions placed upon them by the Rugby Football League.

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• High-ranking figure suggests deal ‘as good as done’

• Scepticism from elite clubs about financial impact

Super League could expand to 14 teams as early as next year if a strategic review led by the Rugby Football League’s interim chair, Nigel Wood, can convince the existing 12 teams that expansion is financially viable for 2026.

Wood, the governing body’s former chief executive who was brought back earlier this year after clubs decided he should lead a review that would scrutinise all aspects of the professional game in the United Kingdom.

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• St Helens 18-4 Leeds

• Cross, Dagnall and Sailor run in tries for Saints

St Helens potentially breathed new life into their season and quietened some of the noise surrounding their inconsistency with a victory over Leeds Rhinos that could easily represent a watershed moment for the remainder of 2025.

Paul Wellens’ side have been some distance from the standards many expect from the most successful team in Super League history, with the Saints some way adrift of the leading pack at the halfway stage of the season. They were expected to fall short here too against a Leeds side that once again look like title contenders.

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• Warrington 32-18 St Helens
• Wolves run in seven tries to move up to seventh

Sam Burgess has made it his business to keep his emotions in check for most of his tenure as Warrington Wolves coach – which made his reaction to Rodrick Tai’s crucial try here in the final quarter of a compelling contest leave no doubt about what this result would have meant to him and his players.

To be clear, it is still far too early in proceedings to be suggesting there is any form of early-season pressure on Warrington. But Burgess set the bar so high in his first season as a head coach last year by reaching both major finals that the very sight of the Wolves being as low as ninth with a third of the Super League season gone suggests something is not quite right.

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With the clubs occupying first and second spot in the standings, the stakes are high for their Good Friday derby

Nestled at the eastern tip of the M62, the city of Hull may sit on the very tip of British rugby league’s geographical landscape but, right now, it is the epicentre of Super League.

Few cities are driven by a passion for rugby league quite like it. Both of the city’s clubs – Hull FC and Hull KR – have enjoyed spells in the upper echelons of Super League over the past 30 years but not since the early 80s, long before the advent of summer rugby, was there a time when both East Riding clubs were simultaneously competing for honours.

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Hull lost their unbeaten record on Friday but they are building something special and trophies will surely come

By No Helmets Required

To say Hull Kingston Rovers are a club on the up would be a huge understatement. Eight years ago they were playing Championship games against Batley, Swinton and Dewsbury. Now they are Super League leaders, aspiring to overthrow Wigan. They are inspiring other mid-sized clubs, showing what can be done with a bit of money, a lot of hard work and many good decisions. They were beaten 28-12 by Wigan but Friday night at Craven Park was more evidence of dreams manifest.

Forty years after they last lifted a major trophy, Hull KR fans are desperate to see this current wave of success be crowned with silverware. They sold their 4,000 tickets for the Hull derby in 12 minutes, their 6,000 Challenge Cup semi-final allocation in two hours. Craven Park is sold out most games, seats only left empty by absent season-ticket holders or folk enjoying the food and drinks area on Craven Streat, the dilapidated southern terrace replaced by a fortnightly festival. It was busy from two hours before kickoff on Friday, with local musician Tom A Smith playing on the pitch before the game and on the Craven Streat stage at half-time. Fireworks went off randomly. It was the Super Bowl brought to you on a budget.

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• Warrington 16-14 Leeds
• Visitors squander eight-point lead in second half

Almost 29 years to the day since Super League kicked off in Paris amid a flurry of excitement and hysteria, two teams with very different histories in the competition’s biggest games delivered a thriller for the 5,000th match in the history of the league.

The early evidence is still unclear on whether or not Warrington can claim a first Super League title – and first league title since 1955 – this year, or whether Leeds can add to the eight Grand Finals they already have. But they certainly showed enough between them to suggest they will be in the mix when the pressure is on come September and the scramble for Old Trafford reaches boiling point.

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As Salford and the RFL battle to see who can look the most shambolic, we answer the questions you might be asking

By No Helmets Required

Fiasco, farce, omnishambles, call it what you like – even Malcolm Tucker would struggle to put a gloss on events at Salford Red Devils and the RFL in the last few months. With their new owners repeatedly failing to lodge the funds that would guarantee the club can get through the season, Salford remain in special measures, administered by a governing body that has seen the majority of its board resign, other senior staff leave under black clouds and a former deposed leader return in a remarkable coup. As Salford and the RFL battle to see who can look the most shambolic, we answer the questions you might be asking.

How can Salford finish fourth last season and lose their first four games this time? Winning the battle of the pointless against Huddersfield on Thursday night was a rare moment of joy for Salford since bowing out of the Super League playoffs six months ago. On paper, Paul Rowley’s side should challenge for silverware. Instead, they have played like relegation fodder, their star players totally undermined by not being paid and their employers in disarray.

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‘Doing it for the town’: Super League’s all-conquering machine have a unique way of involving their community

It is Tuesday morning and there are just 48 hours to go until Wigan begin their Super League title defence against Leigh, not that you would know that when you walk into their Robin Park training complex.

To suggest the mood is relaxed would be an understatement. Some players are taking part in a cricket match on the indoor athletics track, while others are chatting to members of the public and upstairs, their head coach, Matt Peet, is relaxing with a coffee. “If someone said describe a high-performance environment, I don’t think this would be the first place you’d think of,” their former captain and assistant coach, Sean O’Loughlin, smiles.

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Wigan have no weakness, Hull face a rebuild and newcomers Wakefield will quietly fancy their chances

Super League’s 30th season gets under way on Thursday evening, with the biggest opening-night crowd in the competition’s history anticipated to watch the reigning champions, Wigan Warriors, take on their local rivals, Leigh Leopards. Matt Peet’s side completed an historic quadruple last year and have all the hallmarks of a side that could sweep aside all comers again.

Will Wigan dominate 2025 just like they did in 2024? Can the likes of Warrington, Hull KR and Leeds put up a credible challenge? And who is in a struggle to avoid finishing bottom? Here is the Guardian’s team-by-team guide to the new season.

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