The referee appointments for Round Two of Super League have been confirmed with the action set to start on Thursday night.
That follows a record-breaking and dramatic Round One which saw two golden point games and a number of records tumble including both the lowest-scoring Super League game ever and the largest margin of victory ever.
Whilst the three games between Wigan and Leigh, Hull KR and Cas, and Leeds and Wakey were split by just four points, St Helens and Salford were split by a whopping 82-0.
Round One also saw very few cards shown with just three players sent to the sin bin, however, a total of 14 players were handed charges.
Despite that, none were banned with the new disciplinary system seeing points rack up on player’s records as opposed to meaning immediate bans – at least for Grade C charges or lower.
The biggest matter factor surrounding a referee in Round One of Super League was the numerous failed Captain’s Challenges, which have been introduced to the competition this year.
No captain was successful in their challenge underlining what a brilliant job the match officials do. Looking ahead to Round Two, here are the referee appointments for every single game.
Round Two Super League referee appointments
Credit: Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com
One of the key names that fans will notice is missing from the referee appointments across Super League is Chris Kendall, the referee for the 2024 Grand Final. It has been confirmed to Serious About Rugby League by the RFL that Kendall will miss this weekend’s fixtures on account of illness.
The action starts on Thursday night this week and sees Super League return to Belle Vue and Jack Smith will be in charge of that game between Wakefield Trinity and Hull KR, supported by video ref Tom Grant.
Smith will then work as the video referee on Friday night in support of Aaron Moore as Hull FC take on Wigan Warriors. The other Friday fixture sees Liam Rush and Liam Moore officiate Warrington Wolves versus Catalans Dragons.
Those roles are reversed in Saturday’s game between Salford and Leeds with Liam Moore as the on-field official and Liam Rush on the video referee duty, before Tom Grant officiates the evening game between Castleford and St Helens.
Sunday’s fixture between Leigh and Huddersfield will be officiated by Marcus Griffiths with Ben Thaler on video referee duties.
A full list of the Super League referee appointments can be seen below.
Wakefield Trinity v Hull KR
20th February, KO: 20:00
Referee: J. Smith
Video Referee: T. Grant
Warrington Wolves v Catalans Dragons
21st February, KO: 20:00
Referee: L. Rush
Video Referee: L. Moore
Hull FC v Wigan Warriors
21st February, KO: 20:00
Referee: A. Moore
Video Referee: J. Smith
Salford Red Devils v Leeds Rhinos
22nd February, KO: 15:00
Referee: L. Moore
Video Referee: L. Rush
Castleford Tigers v St Helens
22nd February, KO: 20:00
Referee: T. Grant
Video Referee: James Vella
Leigh Leopards v Huddersfield Giants
23rd February, KO: 14:30
Referee: M. Griffiths
Video Referee: B. Thaler
2 Comments
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Johnny
February 18, 2025 at 10:54 pm
Kendle star official don’t make us laugh he is a star cunt
Hope he as to retire
Worst person on the planet along with starmer he is hated in rugby league he cost my team fc thousands in gate receipts
People not going
Eric T Cat
February 19, 2025 at 8:58 am
I felt the video referees weren’t doing the job, they were looking to justify the on field decision, not review the actual events. They’re two very different things! As a result they found reasons to justify every on field decision, rendering tge process meaningless. One decision the challenge was justified, but a subsequent offence neant overall a penalty. What should have happened was the challenge was successful, but a subsequent offence meant the decision to award a penalty was correct, and the team would keep their challenge. I’ve seen that done in the NRL. But in this instance the video referees weren’t used the subsequent offence to justify the first offence, a penalty was given, and tge challenge lost. That was wrong, that’s not how the system should be used!
I watched so much rugby last weekend I can’t remember the game, but it was something like, dispute over a loose carry versus a reefing of the ball, it was reefed, but regathered and knocked on. The loose carry was challenged. It was reefed but then the knock on happened. It was a penalty, but the challenge should have been upheld. That way the right result on the pitch, and the team retain their challenge, instead we got the right result and tge wrongful loss of tge challenge.
It will take time to bed in, it will take a mindset change from referees, I don’t think they’ll accept being overruled with good graces, and others will seek to justify their wrongful decisions.
I believe they’ll worst offender is currently on his sick bed, I dread his return, he’s a very poor referee. His statistics are not good reading in some cases, it might appear to the overly critical that in some matches teams might as well do a Salford, field the first 17 to turn up with boots who fancy a go, including mums, girlfriends, smug PE teachers, Union adherents, grannies, and me with my arthritic knees, bus pass, and my white cane, although refereeing might suit me better.