Leeds Rhinos Women 18 St Helens Women 38

Despite showing signs of a fightback in the second half, Leeds Rhinos Women lost out 38-18 to St Helens Women in a frustrating contest at Headingley.

Having trailed 20-6 at the break, Lois Forsell’s side looked to mount a comeback with Amy Hardcastle and Eloise Hayward, but Matty Smith’s side had done the damage in the first half to secure their first points of the season.

Saints opened the scoring quickly when Emily Rudge crashed over from a short ball. Although both sides had started the game, a mismatch in defence sent the England international through the Rhinos line before she rolled out of Sophie Nuttall’s tackle to score.

Leeds responded by testing the Saints line with multiple attacks. A break by Keara Bennett was missing a support player on the inside of the hooker, before the Rhinos camped themselves on the Saints line but a poor kick from Tasha Gaines was collected by full back Zoe Harris.

Finally the Saints resistance broke as Eloise Hayward was allowed to cut back across the face of the red and white defence before passing for Caitlin Casey to score. Hayward’s conversion made the score 6-6.

Rudge added a second try to get Saints back ahead as the game began to open up for both teams, before a penalty goal from Taylor extended the visitors’ lead off the back of consecutive penalties from Leeds.

With half time looming, Shona Hoyle extended St Helens’ lead out to 14 points. A break by Jodie Cunningham looked ominous, but a great cover tackle from Nuttall stopped the loose forward in her tracks. Moving the ball across the width of the field, Taylor and Harris opened up space on the Leeds edge and Hoyle fended off Casey to score Saints’ third of the game. Taylor’s conversion took the away side to a 20-4 lead at the break.

Saints began the second half where they left the first off as Matty Smith’s side scored back-to-back tries in the opening five minutes. Leah Burke slid over in the corner to get the Red Vee’s first of the new half, before Hoyle grabbed her second minutes later as she broke through the Leeds defence. Taylor converted one of the two tries to make the score 28-6.

Leeds needed a spark to get them back into the contest and former Saint Amy Hardcastle w. Taking the pass from Casey well, the back rower straightened up her run to break the line and beat the full back in a sensational solo effort.

The Rhinos were soon back to within ten as Hayward added her name to scorers list. Although Bennett looked to have broken down a Leeds attack with a rough offload, Lois Forsell’s side showed composure on the last tackle to ping the ball out to the edge, where Butcher produced a well timed pass to put Hayward over. The winger converted both tries to make the score 28-18 to Saints heading into the last twenty minutes.

It was the visitors though that shut down any chance of a Leeds fightback. Lucinda McColm responded for Saints straight after the Hayward try as the outside back found space on the edge of the Leeds defence, and then substitute Katie Mottershead followed it up with her first try of the game; the forward supporting a break by Cunningham to all but seal the points for Smith’s side.