UK Championship Play Offs: 2026

I covered the league* and now it's on to the finals. It's a convoluted affair, spanning five rounds. 

Round 1: It was Whitehaven and Batley that departed. As 9th and 10th in the league, not surprising. Widnes and Doncaster earned byes for the next round.

Round 2: In came London and Newcastle. The Sheffield Eagles and Midlands Hurricanes bade farewell. Seeing that they were 7th and 8th in the league, that meant all of the top six remained. London and Newcastle earned byes. 

Round 3: Widnes Vikings and Barrow Raiders said adieu, with Doncaster and Oldham into the semi finals. The top four league sides all making it through.

Round 4: The semi finals had arrived. League winners London easily and expectedly cruised into the final. Fourth placed in the league Doncaster overcame the second placed league team the Newcastle Thunder to take the other spot.

Round 5: The grand final between hot favourites and massive underdogs. The scoreline reveals the extent of the gap. The only fully professional club in the competition made that count. Well done Doncaster for making it to the grand final. The Broncos should be a Super League Club next season, confirmation surely a formality.

*You can view the league article by clicking here.

A full replay below of a live stream. Best watched on YouTube. You have to slide the progress bar along if you want to avoid the live build up.

UK Championship League: 2026

This competition is almost in the 'too hard' basket of UK RL. It costs money to run but doesn't generate enough to stand alone. Obviously, sponsorships, ticket sales, and revenue from other locally generated means are important. Centrally distributed funds are also needed. How much does that amount to?

I don't know, but the top amount is £147,000 and the lowest £28,000. The total would exceed £1,000,000, which I assume is money they don't generate. Still, they are an important part of the pyramid of the game, so money well spent. 

As for the season itself...much to be dissected. With the combining of the two leagues below the elite Super League, it ended up as one twenty team league. Let's break it down.

Three teams were promoted to SL and one was shut down due to finances. They are listed at the bottom of the chart below. Salford was relegated from SL. Only two of the six Championship play off clubs from 2025 made it onto the list below. They are Oldham and Halifax. 

Teams marked with a P in the 25 column are clubs that came up from the lower division when it was terminated. They looked like they would be lambs to the slaughter, but not so. Three made the ten team play offs. 

The amazing club is the Newcastle Thunder. They came last in the lower League One with no wins from eighteen matches. This year, rubbing shoulders with experienced Championship sides looked a daunting prospect. Instead, they have come second! Why? Strategic partnerships with SL York and NRL Penrith helped. They have also improved their whole operation in various areas. It just shows the potential when a club is well run and gets strong initiatives in place.

Halifax and North Wales had points deducted for financial issues. North Wales moves to South Wales next year. More travel, but hopefully the southern regions of Wales has more to offer.

The play offs article can be seen by clicking here. 

UK Men's Championship : 2026

The UK second division has just commenced this weekend, the 16th of February. There are 21 sides taking part despite the list showing 22. 

The eagle eyed among you will have noticed that Featherstone is a different colour. That's because they went into administration, an ownership bid to revive the club was rejected by the RFL (governing body). 

Therefore, the club is in a state of hiatus for the time being. I hope the Featherstine fans get their club back soon.

The other team highlighted is Salford, which was demoted from Super League (first division). They too had financial difficulties but the new owners were approved and they will take their place in the competition.

This season's Championship is an amalgamation of it and the lower division, League 1. League 1 was small and not financially strong. It is hoped that this combination will provide more games, more revenue and more variety. The negative could be some blow out scorelines. 

The Championship will have an extended and amended playoff structure, played over four weekends and featuring ten teams. Last year, the Championship playoffs were over three weeks and featured six teams.  

One way to keep in touch with the season is go to the BBC website (click here). Then the 'Scores & Fixtures' tab will show results under the 'Betfred Championship' title. The tab next to it is 'Tables'. Click on that and type 'Championship' in the search box. There you will find the league table, updated as the season progresses. 

UK Championship (Division 2) Finals: 2025

Six sides took part in the finals series of the Championship, the European second division. Winning the grand final or even just making it there should help press claims for Super League status in 2025. Grand final highlights are in the video above.

First round: The top sides from the league had a week off so three to six did battle. The Halifax Panthers were too good for Oldham but well done to Oldham as a newly promoted side getting this far. In the other fixture, Bradford overcame Featherstone 28-8. 

Semi finals: York hosted Halifax and booked their place in the grand final with a solid 30-18 victory. Bradfoed went to France and did very well to lose narrowly 20-24. The top two league teams showed their class in progressing through.

Grand final: York had home advantage but there was little between the sides through the season and that is how the final panned out. York scored two unconverted tries and Toulouse kicked five penalties to edge it 10-8. Poor discipline by York hurt them, as did missed conversions. Both will now hope to be promoted to Super League next season. 

UK Championship Regular Season : 2025 (Men's)

This is the division two of the game in the UK that includes a side based in France. After the regiular season was completed, the league table is as seen below. 

Three teams stood out for me and they took the top three spots. They are very keen to make the elite Super League. The play offs will assist in sorting that out but if only it was that simple. 

SL is most likely to go to fourteen teams and one of the current twelve sides making up that division won't be there. If that is how it all goes, three of these clubs will bein SL next year. So the three I mentioned earlier are the likely three? 

That's the complicated bit. Clubs have to meet varoius criteria to be acceoted and it isn't just about on field performance. London finished back in tenth place but they are to become a very different club in 2026 with new ownership. So the playoffs will help clubs trying to make SL and that will be reported on soon. 

The other issue is that no club will be relegated from the Championship as usually happens. That's because division three (League One) will amalgamate with the championship in 2026. Hopefully that won't create a lopsided competition. 2026 won't be dull in UK RL but then again it never is. 

UK Championship Attendances : 2024

I held off publishing this data for UK's division two in the vain hope that some clubs would reveal their full list of attendances. Why some are haphazard in doing so baffles me. If you're not going to do all crowd numbers, why do some of them? Of course, why not do all of them? Why do those in charge allow this sloppiness? 

The figures below are based on what we have been given, with four of the club's averages using incomplete data. The number of missing games involved is shown on the extreme right of the chart. Three clubs that were relegated down or promoted up are highlighted in a different colour and their 2023 attendance numbers are not included in the 2023 average figure*. 

Wakefield's relegation to the Championship had a huge impact on the average figure. Clubs in this division never get crowds of that volume. In fact, the average increased 30.2% despite its demotion which is rare if not unheard of. I can't recall a previous example anyway. 

Doncaster and Dewsbury were promoted and their average figures were up, although eight missing games for Dewsbury makes its 2024 average questionable one way or the other. 

Most of the clubs that were in this division in 2023 had fewer attendees which is disappointing. In fact, York was the only one to improve. Hopefully 2025 will be more positive in that regard as the product is good. 

Picture source: Wakefield Trinity. Match vs York Knights. All the best for Wakefield's 2025 season in Super League. 

*London, Keighley and Newcastle are included in the 2023 average but moved on for the 2024 season so do not affect the 2024 average figure.

UK Championship Finals : 2024

UK's division two had six sides competing in the finals series, the hope being to win the grand final and promotion to the elite Super League. 

First round: The top two sides had a bye while third to sixth battled it out. The York Knights overcame the Widnes Vikings 27-10. Ironically York was once named Jorvik by the Vikings. On this raid, the Vikings were repulsed. In the other match, the Bradford Bulls defeated the Featherstone Rovers 25-12.

Semi final: Wakefield Trinity welcomed the York Knights and had a fight on their hands in their match, the hot favourites only up 7-6 at the break. They prevailed in the end 22-13 but it was a close encounter. 

Toulouse hosted the Bradford Bulls and the visitors were ahead 12-8 at the half way mark. Toulouse fought back and led 21-14 but a converted try minutes before the end meant an exciting end to the game. A 21-20 victory had the top two sides meeting in the grand final but neither were that convincing in getting there.

Final: It was live streamed and the quality of the presentation was excellent. Wakefield were far too good for the visiting French based side, leading 22-0 at half time and 36-0 when the hooter sounded after 80 minutes. Toulouse couldn't get into gear, their rare attacking forays were not threatening while Trinity was sharp on attack. 

dduring the game, Max Jowitt scored the most points by any player in a season when reaching the 500 mark. 26 tries and 198 goals in all. That's some feat. 

To see the full game, simply click here. You will have to slide the red dot along the line at the bottom of the video to avoid the brief wait at the beginning.

Summary: To qualify for the Super League, the IMG International Management Group is tasked with deciding if sides qualify to enter the elite competition and which sides would make way for them. Clubs are awarded points on many criteria so winning the grand final doesn't necessarily mean promotion.

That will be decided this week. Clubs already have been given grading scores but that hasn't fully clarified what will happen. My take is that both finalists have enough points to be promoted with London already known to be relegated. 

That would mean Wakefield would be definitely going up. The question as I see it is will Toulouse, despite losing the final, also gain acceptance and that depends on other existing SL clubs being outpointed. I'll report back once the situation is clear. 

UK Championship League : 2024

The fourteen team UK division two will be thirteen next year as the numbers of teams between this division and the one below it (League One) are brought closer together. So what happened this year?

Most of the top six from last year were back again, the exceptions were Widnes replacing Sheffield and demoted Wakefield replacing promoted London. Doncaster and Dewsbury came up from League One with the former doing well in a higher division but the latter going straight back down. 

Wakefield Trinity dropped from the Super League, a division it had been in since 1999. The new owner (from the end of 2023) is focused on revitalising the club and it is already looking promising for an immediate promotion back to SL. Trin' emphatically won the league with only the playoffs standing between them and a Super League return. 

Toulouse Olympique were hot favourites for promotion in 2023 but a shock result put the London Broncos through and now they will probably have to get past Trinity this year in the decider. Of course, other top six clubs may have a say in that yet. 

The Swinton Lions hosted Hunslet (from League One) to see if one or two sides from League One are promoted and whether two or three sides are relegated to League One. Swinton took a 10-0 lead but in an exciting match, Hunslet came back to win the match 22-20. That sends two League One clubs up and three drop from the Championship. 

UK Championship History: 2000-2023

By having Super League above and League One below, it's inevitable that there will be a fair amount of annual change in participants. Green squares mean the club was promoted, purple relegated, orange ceased to exist in one of the three divisions or at all. The number shows where they finished in the league, fourteen being the highest and reducing one point per placing. 

Both Castleford and Salford have the distinction of twice being promoted immediately back up to Super League after one season in this lower divsion. Featherstone has been here longer than any other club over this period of time. 

Leigh went up to SL three times and came straight back down although it won't be happening a fourth time. Halifax's stretch in this division is nineteen consecutive years with a twentieth season guaranteed. There are plenty of other angles you may enjoy noting in the chart below. 

UK Championship League/Finals : 2023

The 2023 season has concluded and we can look back on what transpired in both the league and finals series. 

League: Featherstone is a small town of 14,000 people but RL is the game there. It has a good on field reputation and was the favourite to be promoted. Toulouse is a city in France with 500,000 inhabitants but it isn't a RL hotbed. Still, it doesn't need to be a to support a team and also a strong promotion candidate. Beyond those two, it was hard to see another club moving up.

The league table reinforced the notion that only two clubs were seriously in the battle for promotion. Toulouse had dropped down from Super League and despite financial issues, was keen to return. Swinton and Keighley had come up from the lower level League 1 so their main ambition was to establish themselves at this higher level.

The top six are shaded in pale blue below, the Halifax Panthers a surprise omission. The two sides to go down as shaded pink, Keighley after one season and Newcastle after three seasons. Sadly, Newcastle won't be going down to the lower level but at best into a regional league. 

Finals: The two top clubs had a week off as a reward for their success. London came fifth but upset fourth side Sheffield 42-0. Bradford (third) as expected overcame York (sixth) 22-8 and the two winners went into the semi finals. 

Semi finals: The big shock was favourites Featherstone were knocked out by a lower finisher in the league. The scoreline of 26-36 doesn't show that a late rally by Fev gave the score some respectability. meanwhile Toulouse predictably won at home 38-20 against a decent Bradford outfit. 

Grand Final: Toulouse earned the right to play at home, being the higher placed in the league. That was an advantage but London were a team in form so this was going to be a tough encounter. Toulouse led 12-0 after the first quarter and 14-4 at the break. However, they were nilled in the second half and were run down by London.

Three away games through the finals series is a tough way to do it. That's what it took London to get promoted back to SL. Where to for Toulouse now? If it's financially able, another crack next year but now having to overcome Wakefield and Fev to do so. 

Championship Attendances : 2023 (Rounds 1-18)

The second division of UK Rugby League is doing well as far as attendances go. After eighteen rounds, they are up 12.7% compared to the complete 2022 season. Numbers do drop gradually during the season so that percentage should be lower when all 2023 games are completed. That said, it can be taken that it will be up by a reasonable margin. 

Sheffield leads the way with a nice stand for fans to enjoy the game from. Newcastle have pulled their attendance average around into positive territory. Three clubs weren't here last year, the two that moved up have done well as expected and the one that moved down (Toulouse) suffered, again as expected. 

Batley has the distinction of most of its matches estimated so I've given them 1,500 for each. If anyone feels that should be different, leave a comment. Featherstone, Keighley and York have taken the same route for their last few home games. They have been estimated as 3,000, 2,400 and 2,000 respectively. Again, comments are welcome. 

London shares a ground with Wimbledon soccer club, a ground capacity of 9,000. The 1,160 average is well below that but slightly better than the 2022 figure of 1,000 per match. Featherstone does very well considering the size of the town but generous increases just aren't feasible.

Those not choosing to report attendance have lessened the accuracy of the list, depending on how accurate the estimates are. Some rounds look more like Swiss cheese than cheddar. It's not as if the clubs concerned have something to be embarrassed about. It's just shoddy administration and a lack of accountability to anyone for that. 

As a reference, rounds 1 to 8 result are shown below:

4

Championship Attendances 2022

It's a bit frustrating following attendances in the Championship (Division 2) as many clubs aren't providing the crowd numbers. The first chart below is for rounds 1-22 when I gave up all hope of getting a complete list (an updated list for the full season has since been posted below now I have the data). 

Now for the article I wrote after round 22, 2022:

Measured against 2019 (the last full season) total numbers are down 24%. The Summer Bash is like Magic Weekend in Super League and this time was taken from Blackpool (a seaside town) to a city well away from surf and sand, ie Leeds. To say it was a flop is an understatement, with the attendance -29%! 

Of the teams in the Championship during 2019 and in 2022, three have publicised so little in terms of attendees, that it would be pointless listing them. Of the other six, a few estimates were needed as well. Featherstone has a more than commendable return of +35%. Widnes was not so long back a Super League team but the longer they are not part of the top flight, the worse the crowds are becoming. 

Two clubs were in the lower League 1 in 2019 and both are up as you would expect. The one club that dropped from SL is down 44% with a lowly 1,127 average at matches in the capital. Overall, not a good result spectatorwise, a shame as there are some decent matches played in this division.  

Final chart:

UK Championship Finals : 2022

Leigh's home gound to host Super League matches next year.
Pic source: Leigh RL.

Of the fourteen teams in the UK division two Championship, the top six moved forward into the finals series. Third to sixth were in the quarter finals with the top two having a week off. Fifth (Batley) beat fourth (Barrow) 18-8 and sixth (York) eliminated third (Halifax) 26-24. 

In came the second finishing side from the league table (Featherstone) and they were majorly upset by Batley 32-28. Then the top side (Leigh) showed why they were overwhelming favourites in despatching  York 70-10. 

The final could only go one way but a gutsy effort by Batley kept the scoreline somewhat respectable. Leigh head upstairs to the elite Super league comp with hopes of making the journey a more lasting one than the previous time (one season). 

UK Championship Table : 2022

Widnes v Halifax. Pic source: Widnes Vikings.

The second division of UK Rugby League concluded with Leigh top of the table. It came down from Super League and is no doubt expecting to make an immediate return to the top flight. Few if any would argue against that. 

Featherstone is the only other side that had a likely chance to secure the one promotion spot available but it doesn't appear to have the squad capable of achieving that. Halifax equaled its third placing which showed consistency but also the fact that it isn't ready for promotion.

Barrow came up from League 1 and did very well to get as high as fourth place. The other newly promoted side, Workington, is going straight back down so contrasting fortunes there. Dewsbury ended a run of thirteen years in this division in its demotion to League 1. Otherwise, there wasn't too much change. 

Championship UK 2021

I don't know as much about the second division as I would like. It is an eclectic mix of clubs, some with Super League ambitions, others happy to be in the Championship and not expecting anything more. Others simply hoping to avoid the drop. So a run down of the teams for 2022 is in order. I write this three rounds into the season.

Survival: The two Cumbrian sides would be in this category. Workington was promoted from last season and this is effectively Whitehaven's second season, the first one not exceptional. The London Broncos were in Super League as recently as 2019 but a cut in finance means staying at this level would be the priority at this stage. Dewsbury is another that would be happy to be here in 2023. 

Middle Ground: Some of the sides here have been in the Championship for a while time but are yet to seriously push for promotion. Halifax (since 2004 in this league and at this juncture not going up), Sheffield (arrived in 2007) and Batley (2002 and before that in an extended league). This is Newcastle's second season at this level so still a work in progress. Bradford and York have played in just three full seasons so not ready to entertain anything more than further consolidation. 

SL hopefuls: Featherstone has been in the Championship every year since 2008 and hot favourites to move up. I think they deserve to. Widnes and Leigh both enjoyed recent spells in SL and will be in the mix at the end of the season. I'd put Barrow in the dark horse category. Probably unlikely to be promoted but they seem to have assembled a decent squad. 

Summary: I hope that covers the clubs reasonably well. I'm sure there are those who would question some of my opinions and nothing is black and white. However, it looks to be an interesting competition. 

European Championship Finals Round Up : 2021

Over 9,000 fans witnessed the final. Pic RFL.

There was a lot riding in this series. The chance to play in the European Super League. Two clubs were hot favourites to contest the deciding game but all six sides were going to give it a crack. 

First round: Fourth and fifth placed sides were up first with Batley defeating Bradford 23-10. The third versus sixth match was close, the higher finishing side in the league squeaking home 24-20.

Semi finals: In came the big hitters, Toulouse and Featherstone to take on last week's winners. The former defeated Batley 51-12 and the latter too good for Halifax 42-10. Would there be a second SL team in France or another from Yorkshire?

Final: This was held in France in front of a large crowd for RL in that country. The locals were favoured but nothing was certain. As it transpired, the best team in the competition won 34-12 with a strong first half performance taking the game away from Featherstone. 

Championship Regular Season Round Up : 2021

Toulouse celebrate winning the league competition

The 14 team Championship is the second division of RL in the UK and Europe. Win percentage decides the placings as not all sides could fulfill their scheduled fixtures due to Covid. Some teams are full time but most are only part time. The sport hasn't got the finances to have a fully professional league below the top tier. Rather than do a team by team coverage, I will give a broader assessment. 

Working from the bottom up, the two sides being relegated to League One are Oldham and Swinton. These two clubs with a proud history in the sport were clearly the ones that deserved to go down in terms of performance on the field. 

The next grouping is for those that didn't make the playoffs, from 7th to 12th. Of those, only London managed to have a win rate exceeding 50%. They and Widnes are the two clubs in this division to recently have played in the Super League elite level. 

The top six battle it out to see who can get the one promotion slot allocated to the Championship sides. Two were by far the best. Toulouse and Featherstone. The latter is irked that they played 21 games to just 14 by the French outfit. The fact is Covid has stopped teams traveling to France and the games Toulouse did play involved going to the UK, meaning more travel than the other sides. That's a disadvantage outweighing the fewer games played.

2021 Championship Season Commences

The second division of UK RL has commenced, known as the Championship. Fourteen teams compete for the chance to gain entry to the elite Super League competition. One will make it with one side coming down from SL. Of course, this assumes the status quo will apply by season's end. 

This competition is hard to predict, especially for me as I haven't followed it until recently. With that caveat, I will proceed.

Top-notch: My pick to be promoted is the Toulouse Olympique club from France. They have the set-up and backing to make a success of playing at the elite level. Featherstone Rovers are always competing and for such a small town do remarkably well. 

In the running: The York City Knights have ambition, and a nice new stadium so would be a nice fit at the top level. The Widnes Vikings were until recently at the top so one cannot discount them. 

Long shots and no-hopers: Long shots would include the Sheffield Eagles which are a team that has potential as do the Dewsbury Rams. The Batley Bulldogs has a staunch following and a useful side. The Halifax Panthers still have claws so can't be totally written off. The London Broncos want to be a top side again but have work to do.

The no-hopers would be Oldham, Newcastle, Swinton, Whitehaven and Bradford. They aren't bad sides but I don't see them going up. I hope that is a fair assessment. For a taste of what the Championship is about, the brief highlights video above will give you an idea. 

UK Championship Attendances : 2017-2019

Attendances in the UK Championship second division are very strong and getting stronger. Over 189 matches in 2019, a total average of exceeding 2,400 per match is very satisfactory. The total was over 450,000 which was a huge increase. (If one adds qualifier games in 2017, it was 340,000, 180 matches,  average 1,855). I cannot go back too far historically but what I do have shows 2019 by some distance the best attended season.

Toronto hasn't played all its home games at home due to early season weather so its played three 'home' games in the UK, two of which were double header affairs. I have included those games in the Toronto figure but I do feel it's not ideal for the Canadian based side to be effectively forfeiting home matches. The first real home attendance was an all time Championship record and a full house.

Widnes got relegated and then suffered financial strife, having points deducted for this campaign as a consequence. However, with new owners and renewed optimism, the crowd support has been excellent. Numbers were only down 15% on last years average, despite being in a lower division in 2019!

With nearly all the teams registering higher attendance figures, the Championship has a real buzz to it. If a side like Toronto was to be promoted, it may affect the average. That would depend on which team comes down to replace them. Overall an amazingly successful 2019 in the Championship and 2020 looking like another cracker season.

The figures below do not include any playoff matches. Last updated 24.09.19.

	CHAMPIONSHIP – Reg season only
		2019		2018		2017
	1	Toronto	6,638	Toronto	5,781	Hull KR	7,351
	2	Bradford	4,340	Leigh	3,539	Bradford	4,119
	3	Widnes	3,928	Toulouse	2,437	Featherstone	2,457
	4	Leigh	3,241	Featherstone	2,316	Toulouse	2,154
	5	Toulouse	2,472	Halifax	1,752	Halifax	1,695
	6	Featherstone	2,304	Barrow	1,239	Batley	1,150
	7	York	2,125	Batley	1,082	Dewsbury	1,089
	8	Halifax	1,761	Dewsbury	1,001	Rochdale	878
	9	Barrow	1,387	London	861	Oldham	815
	10	Batley	1,335	Swinton	840	London	804
	11	Dewsbury	1,231	Sheffield	704	Swinton	791
	12	Swinton	1,079	Rochdale	549	Sheffield	626
	13	Sheffield	944
	14	Rochdale	766
		Summer B	15,070	Summer B	11,805	Summer B	16,444
		Matches	189	Matches	138	Matches	138
		Total	456,448	Total	249,125	Total	279,664
		Avg	2,415	Avg	1,805	Avg	2,027

UK Championship (Division 2) 2018 : Review & Teams Rated

The second division of pro/semi pro RL in the UK is an unusual one. The top sides are good enough to challenge the best but the lower sides are well off the pace. It creates a 'haves and have nots' scenario. After 23 rounds, all the teams in the top six had at least 32 points, none of the rest could better 16 points. It's a shame that the top six cannot go into SL and the lower six into the division below. Money is the problem. Half the division is fully professional, the other half semi-pro.

What teams wanted was to make the top four and challenge for division 1 (Super League) status.  The four that did are in pale blue below, left. The top four went into the Qualifiers with confidence although Halifax was only ever going to make up the numbers, being the only semi-pro side there. London got the SL spot, which looking at performance over the course of the season, should have gone to Toronto.

The other eight played off for the Championship Shield. Points were unfortunately carried over which meant the shield finalists were known before a game was played. The only issue was the shield winner (of those two) and who faced relegation to division three (League 1). The Shield side took its predictable course, with Featherstone defeating Leigh 42-10 in the final. Barrow was relegated and Swinton avoided the same fate with a 33-20 victory over Workington, the challenging League 1 side.

							SL Qualifiers
							1	Salford	10
							2	Leeds	10
	Championship						3	Hull KR	10
	1	Toronto	41				4	Toronto	10
	2	London	33				5	London (W)	8
	3	Toulouse	33				6	Toulouse	6
	4	Halifax	33				7	Widnes	2
	5	Featherstone	32				8	Halifax	0
	6	Leigh	32
	7	Batley	16
	8	Sheffield	14				Championship Shield
	9	Dewsbury	13				1	Featherstone	46
	10	Barrow	13				2	Leigh	40
	11	Swinton	8				3	Batley	28
	12	Rochdale	8				4	Dewsbury	21
							5	Barrow	19
							6	Sheffield	16
							7	Swinton	12
							8	Rochdale	10

Rankings:

12th - Rochdale 4/19 & 1/6. The club struggled, earning just five wins from 30 matches says it all. They came up from  League 1 two years ago and now return.

11th - Swinton 3/2/18 & 2/5. Not much better but managed to survive another year. They were promoted three years ago and are finding this level tough. Treading water. 

10th - Sheffield 7/16 & 1/6. The team does well considering its had issues with finding a local ground. Seems to have one now, so hopefully things can move forward. Not a great season though.

9th - Barrow 5/3/15 & 3/4. The first year after promotion and did enough to stay. 

8th - Dewsbury 6/1/16 & 4/3. Battles in the lower half of the division and did better in the Shield.

7th - Batley 8/15 & 6/1. Was the best of the 'have nots' and had a very good Shield run.

6th - Leigh 16/7 & 4/3. Having arrived down from Super League, the club was determined to go straight back but it wasn't to be. Once that realisation came to fruition, it seems the heads went down. Will they pick themselves up for 2019? They did make the quarterfinals of the Challenge Cup, when their heads were in a better place.

5th - Featherstone 16/7 & 7/0. They too had aspirations of a Qualifiers berth, if not expecting promotion. They missed out but got on with things and finished the Shield and final unbeaten.

4th - Halifax 16/1/6 & 0/7. Twice in consecutive years they have made the Qualifiers, on both occasions not able to register a victory. Did their fans proud getting as far as they did. They came up short in a tough competition, losing all seven.

3rd - Toulouse 16/1/6 & 3/4. The team from France only got promoted two seasons ago and at its second attempt made the playoffs. Even went close to making the Million Pound game. It would be nice to see them in the Super League, sooner rather than later.

2nd - London 16/1/6 & 4/3. This side made Houdini look like an amateur. They scrapped into the Qualifiers when they it seemed they would miss out, then squeaked into the Million Pound game. They went to Toronto and doggedly fought for a 4-2 victory. A team that has good fighting spirit. They will need it in Super League in 2019.

1st - Toronto 20/1/2 & 5/2. How does a team that lost the Million Pound game get rated top? It was clearly the best in the league and was best finishing Million Pound team. It had won five more games that London going into the vital clash and had earned home ground advantage. However, at the final hurdle it wasn't able to produce the performance that would reflect the season as a whole.