Women rocked by Rhinos

  • Match report as Wigan Warriors Women suffer defeat against Leeds Rhinos Women at Headingley Stadium.
  • Mary Coleman got the only score for the Warriors on Thursday evening.
  • FT | Leeds Rhinos Women 64-6 Wigan Warriors Women.

Wigan Warriors Women suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Leeds Rhinos at Headingley Stadium on Thursday evening.

Lauréane Biville made her debut in Cherry & White whilst the Warriors also welcomed the return of vice-Captain Vicky Molyneux after an 18-week absence through injury. The Warriors were still missing more than 10 players through injury including Georgia Wilson and Kaitlin Hilton who both featured against Leeds when they last faced two weeks’ ago.

The Rhinos registered eleven tries on home turf as Wigan got a sole score from Mary Coleman in the second half to ensure the Warriors weren’t held to nil.

Report

The weather owed for a lot of handling errors in the opening ten minutes as both teams went set for set with no breakthrough.

A knock on close to their own goal line allowed Leeds a scrum 20m away. In the 18th minute Keara Bennett sent the ball right to Georgia Roche who sent Zoe Hornby over for the opening score. Sam Hulme added the extras and it was 6-0 to Leeds.

A mistake at the back allowed Fran Goldthorp to go over shortly afterwards. The loose ball was collected by the centre to ease under the sticks, converted by Hulme to make it 12-0.

Georgia Roche then scored two in two minutes as Leeds raced into the lead. The first saw Bennett and Anderson get the Rhinos up the field for Roche to finish off the move before the stand-off went on a run down the centre. Both were converted by Hulme and it was 24-0 to the hosts.

Wigan thought they were on the board in the 24th minute as Beth Hayes crashed under the sticks. The effort was sent to the video referee who adjudged that the Wigan forward was held up over the line and it remained 24-0.

Barnes was next to register a double as she crashed over twice in as many minutes with Leeds finding plenty of space in Wigan territory. The two scores were converted by Hulme in front of the sticks to make it 36-0 at the break.

Leeds were in again in the 45th minute as an inside ball from Georgia Roche sent Zoe Hornby easing over under the uprights. Hulme added a seventh successive conversion to make it 42-0.

An overlap on the right edge saw Sophie Robinson in at the corner after Georgia Roche escaped the defence. Hulme was just wide with the conversion attempt as Leeds took their advantage to 46-0.

Robinson went over again 5 minutes later after linking up once again with Georgia Roche. The touchline conversion from Hulme was on target this time as Leeds made it 52-0 on the hour mark.

In the 67th minute Wigan finally made their breakthrough as Mary Coleman fired through the defensive line before cutting inside to score under the sticks. Sinead Doria slotted over the conversion and it was 52-6 going into the final 10 minutes.

Leeds scored two further tries in the closing 10 minutes as Dannielle Anderson broke through the line before Keara Bennett made a dive for the goal line to round off a simple win for Leeds.

Gallery:

Leeds Rhinos Women: Fran Goldthorp, Sophie Robinson, Caitlin Beevers, Hanna Butcher, Tara Moxon, Georgia Roche, Sam Hulme, Dannielle Anderson, Keara Bennett, Emma Lumley, Chloe Kerrigan, Sophie Nuttall, Zoe Hornby.

Interchange: Orla McCallion, Aimee Staveley, Alex Barnes, Tasha Gaines.

Tries: Hornby (12′, 45’), Goldthorp (15’), Roche (18’, 20’), Barnes (32’, 35’), Robinson (55’, 60’), Anderson (70’), Bennett (76’)

Goals: Hulme 10/11

Wigan Warriors Women: Rebecca Greenfield, Kerrie Evans, Anna Davies, Lauréane Biville, Molly Jones, Sinead Doria, Carys Marsh, Jade Gregory-Haselden, Emma Dwyer, Holly Speakman, Victoria Molyneux, Mary Coleman, Freya Hellin.

Interchange: Beth Hayes, Olivia Harborow, Gabi Leigh, India Hickey.

Tries: Coleman (67′)

Goals: Doria 1/1

Thursday 21 July 2022