Captain upbeat as Leeds Rhinos women aim for 6th Super League Grand Final
An incredible sixth successive Grand Final appearance is the huge prize awaiting Leeds Rhinos’ women, if they beat York Valkyrie at AMT Headingley on Sunday.
Rhinos finished second in Betfred Women’s Super League, with reigning champions York third on points difference. League leaders St Helens play host to fourth-placed Wigan Warriors in the other semi-final and the two winners meet at the ground of the higher-ranked side on Sunday, October 6.
Rhinos have reached the title decider every season since the team began, lifting the trophy in 2019 and 2022 and being runners-up in 2018, 2021 and last year. This weekend’s Sky-televised tie (5pm) is Leeds’ third showdown with York this term, both sides having won on their opponent’s ground in the regular season.
Leeds are on the back of a 24-4 win at Wigan Warriors last week and captain Hanna Butcher feels that was ideal preparation for the sudden-death play-off. “For a Friday night performance, it was probably better than we expected,” she reflected.
“It was a bit of an erratic performance initially, but once we started controlling the game, it felt really good. If we can get that from the off, we stand a good chance.”
Wigan put Leeds under pressure at the start of the second half, but Rhinos’ defence held firm and Butcher reckons they’ll need to be as good again on Sunday, against a team who beat them 32-6 at AMT Headingley three weeks ago.
“We scrambled really well, it was something we were really pleased with,” she said. “The week before, when we played Featherstone, we really weren’t happy with our goalline defence so we had a big push at training to get that sorted and I think it paid off.
“There was a lot of communication and it felt like we clicked. We didn’t concede a point in the second half and that’s testament to the girls and how hard they worked.”
Rhinos have had to contend with a lengthy injury list, including star backs Caitlin Beevers and Ruby Enright, but their absence has given some young players from Leeds’ academy an opportunity to show what they can do and Butcher reckons they have a bright future. “Ebony Stead played really well at full-back and Ruby Walker came on in the second half [against Wigan] and she’s a confident little half-back, really exciting,” she said.
“She is going to be one to watch for the future. It is great the academy girls have come through. There’s Ruby Bruce as well, she likes to go out of dummy-half and when defences are tired she’s going to get that joy.”