Huddersfield Giants U19s Women 4 Leeds Rhinos U19s Women 72

A dominant fourteen-try performance helped set a marker down to the rest of the league as Leeds Rhinos Women’s Academy side ran out 72-4 winners over Huddersfield Giants. 

It took less than two minutes for the Rhinos to break the deadlock, with Ruby Enright capitalising on a mistake from Huddersfield. The full back picked up the loose ball and jinked and stepped her way for over 30 metres to score under the posts. Kiera Gittins was successful with her first conversion of the evening.

Enright was involved again in the next two tries, her second of the evening came just moments after her first as she capitalised on an unset defence following a break from Tilly Davies. She then turned assister as she created an overlap from a to allow Davies to score in the corner.

Tries from Lily Thompson and Mayzi Carter took the scores to 22-0 after 20 minutes. Thompson received a great offload from Gittins to cross, whilst Carter capitalised on some unstructured play between herself and Thompson, with both tries scored in the right-hand corner.

The Rhinos momentum was halted as Huddersfield managed to get on the scoresheet. A couple of unforced errors allowed the Giants to cross through Erin Bentley on the left edge. The conversion was missed, and the Rhinos’ lead was decreased to 18.

Leeds got back to try scoring ways through Emily Fitzpatrick. The loose forward broke seamlessly through the defence and ran 35 metres to score under the posts. Gittins was back on target from the boot and added her second of the evening leaving the Rhinos 28-4 up going into half time.

The Rhinos came out firing in the second half, with Enright showing her class yet again. Her hat trick try came just after the break and was nothing short of sensational. A high bomb was diffused by Honey Oxtoby, who offloaded to Enright, allowing the full back to run cross field, finding a gap on the left-hand touchline and running over 60 metres to put the ball down, completing a wonderful effort. Gittins was successful with the conversion, increasing the lead to 30 points.

Two more quick tries followed, the first from Brooke Henderson, who finished off a great team move as the ball was shifted left. The second came from Faye Barraclough who, like Enright, scored a breathtaking try from her own 40 metre line. The winger took the ball from dummy half and ran cross field, opening a gap on the right touchline, and sprinting all the way to cross the line untouched. Gittins added the extras and the Rhinos led by 40.

Enright found herself on the scoresheet again, this her fourth of the evening, after Gittins’ grubbed kick was fumbled on the Giants line. The full back was first to react and after a brief pause from the referee, the try was given. Gittins’ conversion took the Rhinos to the half century with 15 minutes left to play.

Leeds' dominance continued despite the winning margin. Tries from Fitzpatrick again and Cheryl Foudji helped Leeds reach 60 points. Lauren Exley managed to get an arm free after an impressive run, offloading to Fitzpatrick who scored her second of the evening. Whilst a strong carry from Foudji saw her run 30 metres to score.

Second tries for Davies and Henderson rounded up the scoring. Davies broke the line 40 metre line and turned the full back inside out to cross, whilst Henderson’s second of the evening saw the ball shifted out left, and a show and go from the centre sold the Giants defence and allowed her to cross 15 metres wide of the posts. Gittins’ conversions to both tries meant the Rhinos ended the evening as 72-4 winners.