UK Elite Teams By Season : 2000

St Helens v Warrington (Warrington Guardian)

The fifth year of SL came in the year 2000. The number of teams dropped from 14 to 12 with the Gateshead Thunder being merged with Hull FC and the Huddersfield Giants with the Sheffield Eagles. The former was in reality an ending of Gateshead Thunder while the latter lasted a season but failed to satisfy those involved.

The League: The Wigan Warriors were top with 49 points from St Helens (45), the Bradford Bulls (43) and both the Leeds Rhinos and Castleford Tigers (34 points each) made up the top five to go into the finals. The dysfunctional Huddersfield-Sheffield side came last.

The Challenge Cup: Picking up the tournament at the quarter final stage, Hull Sharks (FC) overcame Wigan 14-4, the Salford City Reds went down to the Warrington Wolves 20-22, the Halifax Blue Sox lost out to Bradford 18-28 and Leeds won at home against Dewsbury 42-10.

In the semi finals Bradford then dispatched Warrington 44-20 and Leeds did likewise 28-22 when overcoming Hull FC. The final at Murrayfield, Scotland was attended by 67,000 fans. Bradford got the silverware with a 24-18 victory.

The Finals: The first elimination game had Leeds eject Castle ford with a 22-14 victory. The qualifying game that week between St Helens and Bradford was won by Saints 16-11. Bradford then went into the second elimination game with Leeds and got through comfortably 46-12. The qualifier for that week piited league winners Wigan against St Helens, but the week off did the Warriors no favours when they were trounced 54-16.

The third and final eliminator match up was Wigan and Bradford. Wigan were too good with a 40-12 result. This took them into the final with arch rivals Saints, but again they lost. This time it was 29-16 in St Helens favour, at the Old Trafford ground before 58,000 spectators.

Summary: I scored the teams below and Bradford were the best team, with 48 points, with a Challenge Cup. The second most successful was Wigan (42 points) who took the league title. St Helens were third with the grand final trophy. Their poor challenge Cup run cost them badly. Leeds equaled Saints with 34 points without winning anything but due to a consistent effort in all three areas of the competition.

	Rk	Team	Lge	Fnl	CC	Total
	1	Bradford	16	12	20	48
	2	Wigan	20	16	6	42
	3	St Helens	18	20		38
	3	Leeds	14	8	16	38
	5	Warrington	11		12	23
	6	Hull FC	10		12	22
	7	Castleford	12	4		16
	8	Halifax	9		6	15
	9	Salford	8		6	14
	10	Wakefield	7			7
	11	London	6			6
	12	Huddersfield	5			5
		Total	136	60	84	280

To view the 1999 season, just click here.
To see the 2001 summary, simply click here.