Leeds Rhinos & England on the up says women's rugby league star Bella Sykes
Leeds and England are both building towards big challenges ahead, Rhinos star Bella Sykes says.
Rhinos travel to Barrow Raiders tomorrow (Sunday) when Betfred Women’s Super League resumes following an international break. Sykes was among the try scorers for England in a 62-0 defeat of Wales in Neath last Saturday, in their first game since an infamous 90-4 loss to Australia in Las Vegas six months ago.
That result in the United States illustrated the scale of the task facing England ahead of next year’s World Cup, but Sykes reckons there are positive signs. “This is the start of a new era of players coming through,” she said. “There’s a lot of younger players getting a shot now and it is definitely exciting. I think the skill level of the team is definitely getting higher so we are hopefully building nicely ahead of what’s going to be a tough year, but an exciting one next year.”
Sykes was one of four Leeds players in England’s 17, alongside Izzy Northrop, Lucy Murray and Ruby Bruce. She said: “It was good to get another opportunity to play. We had a slightly different team so it was really exciting and the new players coming in made it special. Wales were a lot better than last time out so it was quite a tough game, which was good.”
At club level, Leeds are fourth in Women’s Super League, two places ahead of this weekend’s opponents and, like England, in a rebuilding phase. Sykes insisted: “It’s a game we are all looking forward to. On the back of the international break, it is going to be a good hit-out.
“I know the girls have been training hard when the England girls weren’t in and we know it is going to be a tough game, but it’s probably at a point in our season when we need to test ourselves and hopefully we can find some more form come the back end of the year.”
Rhinos haven’t yet secured a play-off spot, but are likely to finish fourth. “We are focusing just on the last few games of the season,” Sykes – who is back in contention this week, along with Evie Cousins and Ruby Walker – added. “This weekend is another opportunity to play well and it’s just about kicking on towards the end of the year and finding some form for the play-offs when they come.”
Leeds Rhinos women (at Barrow): from Stead, Cousins, Nuttall, Howard, Walker, Sykes, Northrop, Brown, Murray, Bruce, Donnelly, Glynn, Greening, Whitehead, Frain, Short, Boyd, Blakey, Bryer, Sharp.
Kick-off: Sunday, noon.