Super League 2011 openers to be played at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium

The Super League clubs have gambled by arranging a full round of fixtures for Cardiff's Millennium Stadium to open the 2011 season in February. The concept of taking all 14 teams on the road is nothing new, but the previous four 'Magic Weekends' have been played on the first Bank Holiday weekend in May – in Cardiff in 2007 and 2008, before a move north to Murrayfield for the past two years. Now they will launch the so-called summer season in the depths of winter, with the Millennium Stadium roof providing protection from the elements for spectators inside the ground – but a risk of travel disruption if there is a cold snap. "You could see it as risky, but the start of the season has been disjointed for the last few years and all the clubs are agreed that this will give us a real chance of a big lift‑off," said the Leeds chief executive, Gary Hetherington, who revealed that a group of players led by the England captain, Jamie Peacock, had been key figures in driving the change. Discussions are continuing over which fixtures will be played in Cardiff but there will definitely be hand-picked matches such as the Hull derby, rather than a random draw that produced a string of unappetising games this year in Edinburgh.