Leeds Rhinos aim to build pressure on Wigan Warriors as Women's Super League race hots up
Leeds Rhinos can strengthen their hold on second place in Women’s Super League when they take on Leigh Leopards at AMT Headingley tomorrow (Saturday).
Rhinos moved above St Helens on for and against after a superb 28-12 victory at BrewDog Stadium last Sunday. That left them two points behind Wigan Warriors who play host to Saints this weekend.
After Saturday, Rhinos have one more game - away to Huddersfield Giants on Sunday, July 12 - before the competition splits at the midway point of the season. The top two sides at the end of the campaign will have home advantage in the semi-finals and Rhinos’ teenage forward Frankie Blakey insisted: “It would be brilliant if we can go into the second half of the season in second place, but we just need to focus on this week, get that out of the way and hopefully we can do that.
“We can definitely still improve. The coaches said in our review we could have put more points past Saints, we have got so much more to come. We are still learning things in training and developing as a team and working on things. There’s still a lot more for us to show people.”
Last week was Rhinos’ fourth successive victory since a narrow loss to champions Wigan in round one and avenged a Challenge Cup semi-final by Saints defeat last month. “It was a great result for us,” Blakey said.
“We’ve been working and building on things in training. We know we weren’t good the last time we played Saints, but this time we really nailed the process in the first half and that caused us to get the result.”
Though confidence is high, Blakey stressed Rhinos must maintain their standards on Sunday against a Leigh side who have won two of their five games so far. “We just need to make sure we do the same,” she said.
“We are back at our home ground and we want a big win. We need to make sure we are on top of everything and put what we have been doing in training into our game plan.”
Blakey, 19, made her first team debut last year after progressing through Rhinos’ academy system and is one of a host of young players the club hope will lead the team to success over the next few seasons. Primarily a number nine, she has also been playing at loose-forward this season and reflected: “I am loving it.
“It has been brilliant, being in that first team environment is good for my game. This is my second season in Super League and it’s really good to get the opportunity to play and be part of the team.”