It was, overall, a strong weekend of Super League attendances, but two sides particularly struggled to attract crowds.
Friday night saw a top-of-the-table clash between St Helens and Catalans Dragons, where the Saints slayed the Dragons with a score of 24-12 to finally break their five-game losing streak against the side from Catalonia.
Catalans dominated much of the first half, and looked set to win against the Red Vee yet again, but Konrad Hurrell’s try before half-time and the later onslaught from the Saints troops proved too much for the travelling side, as Mata’utia, Makinson and Lees completed the victory.
Warrington and Wigan, in a ‘dress rehearsal’ for the Challenge Cup final, played out an incredibly tight 18-19 defeat for a Wire side that handed out four debuts, as despite Stefan Ratchford’s late try and conversion, Harry Smith’s drop-goal at the end of the first half proved to be the difference between the sides.
Huddersfield Giants, on poor form, would have been a target for Simon Grix’s struggling Hull FC side, and looked like they might finally pick up some points right until the end, eventually falling 24-18, despite late tries from Logan Moy and Cam Scott.
Hull KR aren’t currently in their scintillating form from earlier this year and Leigh Leopards have finally started to improve after a disappointing start to the season, but the score followed the league table as Rovers, through tries from Tom Opacic and the excellent Niall Evalds, sealed a 12-0 victory.
On derby day, Castleford couldn’t continue the momentum from last week’s victory, looking poor throughout the game and allowing a Brodie Croft and Rhyse Martin-inspired Leeds Rhinos to run riot, coming out 32-4 winners at Headingley.
Finally, on Sunday, Marc Sneyd shone as the Red Devils swept the London Broncos aside. Sneyd kicked five goals and set up four tries, leading his side to a 34-4 victory.
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Super League Attendances: four sides hit 10,000 while two are below 5,000
For Huddersfield, this weekend could always have resulted in a victory, and indeed it did, although it was tighter than many would have hoped.
Despite this, they could only pull in a crowd of 4,102 – less than half that of Hull FC’s previous away game, at Castleford’s Wheldon Road.
It was better viewing for Saints, as although they had their second-lowest home attendance this season, they still reached a healthy figure of 11,088 fans to see their strong victory over Catalans Dragons.
It was also excellent for Warrington Wolves at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, as they had their highest attendance this year, almost 50% up from their previous two.
Maybe it’s a severe case of Wembley fever for the 12,181 fans this weekend.
Leeds Rhinos, with some of the most consistent fans around, had 14,529 in Headingley for a West Yorkshire derby with Castleford Tigers, which was their highest figure since defeat to St Helens in round five.
It was yet another Hull KR home sell-out at Craven Park, and although official figures have so far only been available through supporters’ minutes, what we’ve seen have been very impressive figures for a side that were in the RFL Championship not long ago.
Finally, though, the good news stops, as Salford Red Devils recorded their lowest attendance this season, and the third-lowest in Super League this season also – only better than two London Broncos home games.
A really disappointing number of 2,843 will certainly not be helping to send any IMG points to the Salford Community Stadium.
A spreadhseet of every attendnace this season can be found here.
