Super League Attendances: Sell-out crowd shines as three hit milestone number

One of the first warm-weather weekends of the year played host to Round Seven of Super League in a round that provided plenty of intriguing match-ups, the first being ‘The Battle of the Borough’.

Leigh Leopards looked to kickstart their season with a win over local rivals Wigan Warriors, Adrian Lam’s side potentially hoping they would face a downbeat Wigan side that had just lost, but instead, they got a resurgent Wigan.

Matt Peet’s men proved why they’re Super League and World Club Champions as they ran in eight tries by eight different scorers in front of a raucous crowd at the Leigh Sports Village to win 40-12.

That victory took them top of the table but only briefly as Warrington Wolves would claim that spot 24 hours later when they handed Leeds Rhinos their third successive home defeat, Rohan Smith’s side falling to a 34-8 defeat at Headingley.

Leeds got on the board first with Harry Newman jumping highest to claim Matt Frawley’s kick and open the scoring before Ash Handley had his length-of-the-field attempt denied by a brilliant covering tackle from Matty Ashton.

From there, things worsened for Leeds with Tom Holroyd failing a HIA and Handley leaving the field with a rib injury, both men sent to hospital, and having to play 60 minutes with just two men on the bench the game quickly got away from Leeds as Warrington scored three tries in each half.

Winless London Broncos remained winless after Hull KR won 50-10 running in nine tries and put them to the sword with another first-half demolition job, something that made the second-half a lot easier with Willie Peters able to rest stars such as Elliot Minchella and Tyrone May ahead of the Challenge Cup Final rematch with Leigh Leopards.

One team who are no longer winless is Castleford Tigers with Craig Lingard earning his first win as a Super League head coach thanks to his team’s 36-24 win over Salford Red Devils.

In a rollercoaster game that saw Cas twice come from eight points behind, Innes Senior stole the show as the winger scored four tries to help guide the Tigers to their first Super League win of the season.

Saturday brought even better weather but there was no time for Tony Smith to bask in the sunshine as his side conceded after just 55 seconds and would go on to lose 56-22, conceding ten tries including seven in the first half.

A positive would be that his side managed to score points and youngsters Jack Charles and Logan Moy impressed, but another negative was once again the discipline of Hull FC who saw three yellows and sit firmly atop the table for the most ill-disciplined side in Super League.

Round Seven concluded with a party in Perpignan and there was plenty of reason to celebrate come full time as Catalans defeated St Helens 14-8 to go top of the table following a game of incredible intensity, broadcast as part of Sky Sports‘ ‘Big Weekend’.

The quality wasn’t always there but the physicality certainly was with both team’s defensive efforts being elite, the pick of the bunch being Arthur Mourgue’s try-saver on Lewis Dodd which probably eclipses Matty Ashton’s chase-down tackle for best of the round.

Super League Attendances

Such brilliant games deserved to be watched by large crowds and that was the case in most parts with the best figure being

Hull KR have been releasing their attendance figures each quarter so it is an undisclosed figure but it was confirmed as a home sell-out meaning that the attendance will likely be beyond 8,000 and possibly 9,000 depending on away ticket sales.

It was a ‘Quid for a Kid’ at the MKM Stadium to watch Hull FC, a similar initiative to what Warrington had done last week when they saw 11,214 watch their clash

Catalans had erected temporary stands in anticipation of large away support and a spate of big home games and they also surpassed the five-figure mark with a very impressive crowd of 10,728.

The impressive numbers echo what RL Commercial’s Rhodri Jones had stated previously about Super League drawing in larger numbers than at this point in 2023.

Details of each club’s average attendance through round six can be read here.

Leigh Leopards vs Wigan Warriors: 10,308
Hull KR vs London Broncos: Sold Out
Castleford Tigers vs Salford Red Devils: TBC
Leeds Rhinos vs Warrington Wolves: 12,297 (per Rugby League Project)
Hull FC vs Huddersfield Giants: TBC
Catalans Dragons vs St Helens: 10,728