Super League IV
Sport	Rugby league
League	Super League
Number of teams	14
1999 Season
Champions	St Helens
League Leaders	Bradford Bulls
Man of Steel	Adrian Vowles
Top point-scorer(s)	Iestyn Harris (325)
Top try-scorer(s)	Toa Kohe-Love (25)
< 1998 Seasons 2000 >

JJB Sports Super League IV was the official name for the year 1999's Super League championship season, the 105th season of top-level professional rugby league football in Britain, and the fourth championship run by Super League. The start of Super League VI saw the emergence of a North East based Rugby League Club, Gateshead Thunder as well as newly promoted Wakefield Trinity Wildcats to expand the league to fourteen teams.

[edit] Rule changes

• The 40/20 rule was introduced to reward accurate kicking in general play.^[1][2] The rule, which had been used in Australia since 1997, gives the head and feed at the resulting scrum to a team that kicks from behind their 40 metre line and bounces in the field of play before going out of play behind their opponent's 20 metre line.^[3][4]

[edit] Season Summary

The season finished with a grand final between 1997 champions Bradford Bulls and the inaugural Super League champions St. Helens in which the Saints triumphed in a closely contested game. ^[5]

[edit] Super League IV Table

Regular Season Final Standings

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Bradford Bulls	30	25	1	4	897	445	+452	51
2	St Helens	30	23	0	7	1034	561	+473	46
3	Leeds Rhinos	30	22	1	7	910	558	+352	45
4	Wigan Warriors	30	21	1	8	877	390	+487	43
5	Castleford Tigers	30	19	3	8	712	451	+261	41
6	Gateshead Thunder	30	19	1	10	775	576	+199	39
7	Warrington Wolves	30	15	1	14	700	717	-17	31
8	London Broncos	30	13	2	15	644	708	-64	28
9	Halifax Blue Sox	30	11	0	19	573	792	-219	22
10	Sheffield Eagles	30	10	1	19	518	818	-300	21
11	Wakefield Trinity Wildcats	30	10	0	20	608	795	-187	20
12	Salford City Reds	30	6	1	23	526	916	-390	13
13	Hull Sharks	30	5	0	25	422	921	-499	10
14	Huddersfield Giants	30	5	0	25	463	1011	-548	10

[edit] Play-offs

	Qualifying / Elimination play-offs					Qualifying / Elimination semi-finals					Final eliminator				Grand Final
							QSF:
						1	Bradford Bulls	40
							St Helens	4							GF: 9 October, 1999
															Bradford Bulls	6
		QPO:									FE:				St Helens	8
	2	St Helens	38								St Helens	36
	3	Leeds Rhinos	14				ESF:				Castleford Tigers	6
							Leeds Rhinos	16
		EPO:					Castleford Tigers	23
	4	Wigan Warriors	10
	5	Castleford Tigers	14
				Key:         Losing team progressing     Winning team progressing

[edit] End of season mergers

Huddersfield managed to avoid relegation again despite finishing bottom due to the merger with Sheffield Eagles to form Huddersfield-Sheffield Giants. Also at the end of this season Gateshead Thunder and Hull Sharks were merged to form Hull FC with no attempt made to maintain any association with Gateshead, Gateshead Thunder would later reform in the National Leagues.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• 1999 Super League Grand Final

[edit] External links

• Super League IV at wigan.rlfans.com
• Super League IV at rugbyleagueproject.com