2000 Super League season

Tetley's Bitter Super League was the official name for the year 2000's Super League championship season, the 106th season of top-level professional rugby league football in Britain, and the fifth championship run by the Super League. The season culminated in the Grand Final between St Helens R.F.C. and Wigan Warriors, which St Helens won, claiming their second consecutive Championship.

Super League V
League	Super League
Duration	28 Rounds
Teams	12
Highest attendance	17,428 Wigan Warriors vs St. Helens (9 July)
Lowest attendance	2,040 London Broncos vs Salford City Reds (12 Aug)
Attendance	1,245,720 (average 7,415)
Broadcast partners	Sky Sports
2000 Season
Champions	St. Helens 3rd Super League title 10th British title
League Leaders	Wigan Warriors
Man of Steel	Sean Long
Top point-scorer(s)	Sean Long (352)
Top try-scorer(s)	Sean Long Tommy Martyn (22)
← 1999 2001 →

Table

Super League V

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Wigan Warriors (L)	28	24	1	3	960	405	+555	49	Semi Final
2	St Helens (C)	28	23	0	5	988	627	+361	46	Qualifying Semi Final
3	Bradford Bulls	28	20	3	5	1004	408	+596	43
4	Leeds Rhinos	28	17	0	11	692	626	+66	34	Elimination Semi Final
5	Castleford Tigers	28	17	0	11	585	571	+14	34
6	Warrington Wolves	28	13	0	15	735	817	−82	26
7	Hull F.C.	28	12	1	15	630	681	−51	25
8	Halifax Blue Sox	28	11	1	16	664	703	−39	23
9	Salford City Reds	28	10	0	18	542	910	−368	20
10	Wakefield Trinity Wildcats	28	8	0	20	557	771	−214	16
11	London Broncos	28	6	0	22	456	770	−314	12
12	Huddersfield-Sheffield Giants	28	4	0	24	502	1026	−524	8

Source: Rugby League Project
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Points difference; 3) Number of points scored;
(C) Champions; (L) League Leaders

Play-offs

Further information: Super League play-offs

	Qualifying play-off					Qualifying semi-final					Preliminary final					Grand Final
						1	Wigan Warriors	16								St. Helens		29
							St. Helens	54								Wigan Warriors		16
	2	St. Helens	16								Wigan Warriors		40
	3	Bradford Bulls	11			Elimination semi-final					Bradford Bulls		12
						Bradford Bulls		46
	4	Leeds Rhinos	22			Leeds Rhinos		12
	5	Castleford Tigers	14

Wide to West

St Helens, who finished second in the regular season table, hosted Bradford Bulls for the qualifying play-off in week one of the play-offs. One of Super League's most well known tries was scored in the final seconds of the match.^[1] Bradford led the game 11–10 into the final minute when, deep in the St Helens half with the match seemingly lost, St Helens were awarded a penalty. The try scored on the second tackle by Chris Joynt became known as "Wide to West" due to the phrase being used in live commentary by Eddie Hemmings. St Helens won 16–11.

Eddie Hemmings and Mike Stephenson commentated for Sky Sports:^[2]

Hemmings

It's gonna be the match for Bradford.

Stephenson

He's given a penalty.

Hemmings

Oh, he has.

Stephenson

He'd called held there. They're still not out of it. Oh, they've taken a short one, they know they've only got ten seconds. Will they get this play-the-ball in? They're holding him down.

Crowd

[counting down until the end of match] 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Hemmings

Sculthorpe wants to get on with it, Bradford: counting down.

Stephenson

Kick and chase now?

Hemmings

This is the last play. Long... kicks it wide to Iro. Iro to Hall. Hall is trapped. Back it goes to Hoppe. Over the shoulder to Hall. There is Jonkers. Here is Long, and Long fancies it. Long fancies it. It's wide to West. It's wide to West. Dwayne West. Inside to Joynt. Joynt. JOYNT. JOYNT! OH! OH! FANTASTIC!

Stephenson

I wouldn't believe it!

Hemmings

They've won it, they've won it, they've won it. Chris Joynt; Chris Joynt has won it. It is unbelievable here, it is, frankly, unbelievable. Chris Joynt has won the match for St Helens.

See also

• 2000 Super League Grand Final
• 2000 Challenge Cup