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Super League points system switch lifts Catalans to top of table

<span>Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA</span>
Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA

Super League has radically changed the way this season’s final league table will be determined, moving to a win percentage system for the first time in the sport’s history as fears continue to grow over clubs being able to complete the 2020 campaign.

Instead of the four clubs with the most points contesting the end-of-season play-offs, the Rugby Football League board has agreed to a new system that changes the make-up of the table. The 11 teams will be placed based on the percentage of games they have won, with the changes moving Catalans – who have played three games fewer than some of their rivals – to the top of the new-look table.

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Super League is “acknowledging the possibility that not all clubs will be able to play the same number of matches before the end of the regular season”, which is scheduled to comprise 22 rounds before the play-offs take place.

A number of clubs have already been forced to cancel games because of positive Covid-19 tests, but any side that qualifies for the play-offs by finishing in the top four must have played a minimum of 15 games.

Super League admits that if four or more clubs do not fulfil the requisite 15 league fixtures, the competition will again be reviewed. The league says it is is doing everything within its power to ensure the 2020 season is completed. Huge financial ramifications face the sport if the campaign is abandoned.

With clubs likely to be forced to return a significant portion of money to host broadcaster Sky Sports if the season does not conclude, many fear that such a situation would lead to them facing a grave financial future. “Like other sports before us, we have to recognise that this is not going to be a normal season,” the RFL’s chairman, Simon Johnson, said.

“A number of fixtures have already been postponed, affecting some clubs more than others, and we have to allow for the possibility of that pattern continuing. The whole sport is doing everything in its power to deliver a Grand Final later this year that will see the crowning of our 2020 Champions.”