Four Betfred Women’s Super League (BWSL) teams will battle it out for a Grand Final place this Saturday (September 23), when York Valkyrie entertain Wigan Warriors (KO 3.30pm) and St Helens play Leeds Rhinos (KO 6pm) – both matches live on Sky Sports.
Old rivals St Helens and Leeds Rhinos face one another at the Totally Wicked Stadium in a blockbuster Challenge Cup Final rematch. Saints were triumphant at Wembley Stadium in August, but the Rhinos won 34-22 at the Totally Wicked Stadium when the sides last met earlier this month and have twice defeated St Helens in the play-off semi-finals.
Leeds Rhinos Head Coach, Lois Forsell, has been using the Wembley Stadium defeat as extra motivation as her charges look to retain the BWSL title.
“Any game that you lose hurts and losing the first Women’s Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium definitely hurt,” admits Lois. “After the game we spoke about bottling that feeling and bringing it to training to make us better and give us motivation at the back end of the season. Our job on Saturday is to retain the trophy. I know people speak about revenge and this game being about us getting St Helens back, but ultimately the title is ours to retain.
“I’m really excited and we’re in a very similar position to last year when they’d beaten us in the Challenge Cup Final and then we faced them in the semi-finals of the Super League, so we’re familiar with this territory and really looking forward to the game.”
Saints have recorded two wins over the Rhinos this year, including that famous 22-8 victory at Wembley Stadium in the Challenge Cup Final. Head Coach, Matty Smith, is expecting a difficult test in their quest to regain the title they won in 2021.
“We’ve played Leeds a number of times both this season and in the past and there has always been that rivalry between the teams. We’re looking forward to another big, tough game on Saturday.”
And although their last meeting was a 34-22 defeat, Smith is confident the side will learn from previous mistakes.
“When you play Leeds, they are always in the game, they have some great players that always show up. We made a great start against them in the Challenge Cup Final, but they never went away and we never felt comfortable.
“They were the better team when we played them at home earlier this month, but sometimes it’s good to lose and you learn a lot. It’s probably done us good. We’re focused and hopefully we’ll put things right on Saturday.”
Before St Helens play Leeds Rhinos, the newly-crowned League Leaders, York Valkyrie, host Wigan Warriors at the LNER Community Stadium (KO 3.30pm). The Valkyrie suffered heartbreak against Leeds last season when two tries from Caitlin Beevers denied them of the title and Head Coach, Lindsay Anfield, is looking forward to facing an improved Wigan side: “Everyone is really excited but we’re also nervous and not underestimating Wigan – they’ve really improved this season and they’ve tested teams so we know it will be a tough game, we just need to prepare in training and stick to our game plan.”
With a team that contains six England players, Anfield is hoping senior members of the squad can push them one step further this year: “We’ve had a few big games over the last couple of years and some of them have been failures so heading into this semi-final we’ve been trying to keep everything clear and clinical in training to give us the best possible chance to progress to the Grand Final. I think having the likes of Sinead Peach and Tara-Jane Stanley is a positive because they bring experience and hopefully the group can learn from them.
“Saturday will be huge, and the girls are all looking forward to playing the semi-final at home - qualifying for the Grand Final in front of our fans would be a perfect end to the season.”
Wigan’s last Grand Final appearance came in 2018 when the Warriors clinched a dramatic 18-16 victory against the Rhinos to claim their only title to date, and whilst they are yet to record a win over one of the competitions big guns, their Girl’s Academy is continuing to produce stars of the future.
Molly Jones and Eva Hunter recently joined teammate Kaitlin Hilton in the England Knights squad and the 19-year-old centre is looking forward to what lies ahead: “All of the squad are really excited for the semi-finals – we feel that we have a point to prove and we’re all ready to showcase what we can do as a team.
“We’ve had some good games against the top teams this season including the Challenge Cup semi-final against Leeds Rhinos, and we’ve already beaten York Valkyrie in the Nines competition so we’re confident we can give them a good game.”
Hilton added: “In the past we’ve probably settled for results, but we’ve grown a lot this season and our long-term goal is to be winning silverware.”
Both semi-finals will be shown live on Sky Sports Arena from 3.30pm with the Betfred Women’s Super League Grand Final taking place on Sunday October 8 (KO 3pm) also live on Sky Sports. Tickets will be available to purchase via this link when the Grand Final venue is revealed on Saturday evening.
Saturday September 23
York Valkyrie (1st) v Wigan Warriors (4th) – LNER Community Stadium, Saturday September 23, 330pm kick-off (live on Sky Sports)
St Helens (2nd) v Leeds Rhinos (3rd) – Totally Wicked Stadium, Saturday September 23, 6pm kick-off (live on Sky Sports)
Sunday October 8
Betfred Women’s Super League Grand Final (3pm)– live on Sky Sports (venue tbc)
