2015 RFL Championship
The 2015 Rugby Football League Championship, known as the Kingstone Press Championship for sponsorship reasons, was a professional rugby league football competition played in the UK, one tier below the Super League.
The 2015 Championship featured twelve teams, who played each other twice in the regular season, once at home and once away, totaling 22 games. The 2015 season also saw for the first time the Summer Bash Weekend, which was played at Bloomfield Road, Blackpool and created an additional round of fixtures. After 23 rounds in both the Championship and the Super League, the two divisions of twelve were split into the Rugby League Super 8s.
Leigh Centurions were the league leaders after 23 rounds and were thus deemed Champions for the 2015 season, while Hunslet Hawks and Doncaster were relegated following the culmination of the Super 8s.
Teams
The competition featured 12 teams, as opposed to the 14 seen in the previous year. The teams consisted of nine of the 14 teams from 2014, the Play-off winner of the 2014 Championship 1 season, which was Hunslet Hawks, and the two sides relegated from 2014 Super League, Bradford Bulls and London Broncos. Keighley Cougars, North Wales Crusaders, Rochdale Hornets, Swinton Lions, and Barrow Raiders who finished in the bottom five in 2015 were relegated into League One for 2015.| Team & Current Season | Stadium | Capacity | 2015 Average Crowd | Location | |
| Batley Bulldogs | loverugbyleague.com Stadium | 6,000 | 1,605 | Batley, West Yorkshire | |
| Bradford Bulls | Odsal Stadium | 27,000 | 4,360 | Bradford, West Yorkshire | |
| Dewsbury Rams | Tetley's Stadium | 5,100 | 1,689 | Dewsbury, West Yorkshire | |
| Doncaster | Keepmoat Stadium | 15,231 | 1,595 | Doncaster, South Yorkshire | |
| Featherstone Rovers | Bigfellas Stadium | 6,750 | 2,277 | Featherstone, West Yorkshire | |
| Halifax | The Shay Stadium | 6,561 | 2,151 | Halifax, West Yorkshire | |
| Hunslet Hawks | South Leeds Stadium | 4,000 | 1,437 | Leeds, West Yorkshire | |
| Leigh Centurions | Leigh Sports Village | 12,700 | 3,177 | Leigh, Greater Manchester | |
| London Broncos | The Hive Stadium | 5,176 | 1,381 | Canons Park, London | |
| Sheffield Eagles | Owlerton Stadium | 4,000 | 1,640 | Sheffield, South Yorkshire | |
| Whitehaven | Recreation Ground | 7,500 | 1,527 | Whitehaven, Cumbria | |
| Workington Town | Derwent Park | 10,000 | 1,448 | Workington, Cumbria |
Season standings
The regular league season saw the 12 teams play each other twice over 24 matches. The top four teams at the end of the regular season qualified for "The Qualifiers", while the other eight teams contested the "Championship Shield".| Position | Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Pts for | Pts agst | Points |
| 1 | Leigh Centurions | 23 | 21 | 1 | 1 | 972 | 343 | 43 |
| 2 | Bradford Bulls | 23 | 18 | 1 | 4 | 828 | 387 | 37 |
| 3 | Sheffield Eagles | 23 | 17 | 0 | 6 | 586 | 451 | 34 |
| 4 | Halifax | 23 | 16 | 0 | 7 | 646 | 377 | 32 |
| 5 | Featherstone Rovers | 23 | 13 | 0 | 10 | 633 | 565 | 26 |
| 6 | Dewsbury Rams | 23 | 12 | 1 | 10 | 490 | 461 | 25 |
| 7 | London Broncos | 23 | 12 | 0 | 11 | 538 | 510 | 24 |
| 8 | Workington Town | 23 | 7 | 1 | 15 | 379 | 671 | 15 |
| 9 | Batley Bulldogs | 23 | 7 | 0 | 16 | 421 | 539 | 14 |
| 10 | Whitehaven | 23 | 7 | 0 | 16 | 418 | 671 | 14 |
| 11 | Hunslet Hawks | 23 | 5 | 0 | 18 | 362 | 769 | 10 |
| 12 | Doncaster | 23 | 1 | 0 | 22 | 282 | 851 | 2 |
| Teams qualifying for "The Qualifiers". | |
| Teams qualifying for "The Championship Shield". |
- The Qualifiers
| Position | Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Pts for | Pts agst | Points |
| 1 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 234 | 118 | 14 |
| 2 | Widnes Vikings | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 232 | 70 | 10 |
| 3 | Salford Red Devils | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 239 | 203 | 10 |
| 4 | Wakefield Trinity Wildcats | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 153 | 170 | 6 |
| 5 | Bradford Bulls | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 167 | 240 | 6 |
| 6 | Halifax | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 162 | 186 | 4 |
| 7 | Sheffield Eagles | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 152 | 267 | 4 |
| 8 | Leigh Centurions | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 146 | 231 | 2 |
| Teams qualifying for Super League 2016. | |
| Teams qualifying for the "Million Pound Game" to earn a 2016 Super League Place | |
| Teams relegated to the Championship for 2016 |
- Therefore, Wakefield are the final team to secure a spot in Super League XXI.
- Championship Shield
The two teams finishing at the bottom of this Super 8s group were relegated to the League 1 2016 season, and replaced by the two 2015 League One promoted sides.
| Position | Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Pts for | Pts agst | Points |
| 1 | Featherstone Rovers | 30 | 19 | 0 | 11 | 809 | 701 | 38 |
| 2 | Dewsbury Rams | 30 | 17 | 1 | 12 | 686 | 624 | 35 |
| 3 | London Broncos | 30 | 15 | 0 | 15 | 756 | 674 | 30 |
| 4 | Workington Town | 30 | 11 | 1 | 18 | 587 | 782 | 23 |
| 5 | Batley Bulldogs | 30 | 10 | 0 | 20 | 645 | 707 | 20 |
| 6 | Whitehaven | 30 | 10 | 0 | 20 | 618 | 921 | 20 |
| 7 | Hunslet Hawks | 30 | 8 | 0 | 22 | 518 | 957 | 16 |
| 8 | Doncaster | 30 | 2 | 0 | 28 | 401 | 1128 | 4 |
Qualified for the Semi Final
Relegated to League 1
| Teams qualifying for the Championship Shield 2015 Semi-Finals. | |
| Teams relegated to 2016 League One. |