Leeds Rhinos concede Women's Super League leaders' shield to St Helens but maintain Grand Final push
Top spot is off the agenda, but Leeds Rhinos still have high ambitions in Women’s Super League.
Fierce rivals St Helens’ 10-6 home win over champions York Valkyrie on Wednesday lifted them above Leeds into first place on the table, two points clear of Rhinos and Wigan Warriors. York are fourth, another two points adrift.
Mathematically, it is all still to play for, but while Saints have the bottom four of Huddersfield Giants, Barrow Raiders twice, Warrington Wolves and Featherstone Rovers to face, Rhinos’ last five games see them play Wigan twice and York, plus two meetings with Featherstone.
The first of those is at Millennium Stadium, Post Office Road, on Sunday (noon) and Rhinos’ England forward Keara Bennett admitted: “Wednesday’s game kind of guaranteed Saints’ spot at the top. Now it’s just making sure we keep building each week and maintain second place.”
She said: “I don’t think we can end up top now, but our aim is to win everything going forward. We aren’t looking at top spot, just focussing on ourselves and buying into winning each week now, especially towards the back end of the season. We are travelling well, we’ve regrouped well and we’re looking forward to a tough few weeks coming up.”
Second spot would secure a home play-off and Bennett is confident Leeds can go on to win the title decider, having been beaten in the women’s game’s last three major finals. Rhinos have lost only three times this year, all against Saints, in the Women’s Challenge Cup final and home and away Super League matches.
“We are still very much in it,” she insisted of the title race. “I think we were unlucky at Wembley and if anything that has kind of fuelled our fire for the back end of the year. Definitely the Grand Final is the main aim and we are aiming to build some good form going into the play-offs.”
There is a gulf in the women’s competition between the top- and bottom-four. Rovers prop up the table, having lost all nine Super League fixtures this year and Bennett reckons this weekend is about Leeds maintaining their standards.
Every week you have to go in with the same head space, no matter who you are playing,” she said. “Featherstone haven’t yet won a game, but that doesn’t mean anything changes for us. We will be going out to do our job, get the job done and look to push on into the weeks after that.”