York Valkyrie 12 Leeds Rhinos Women 12

By Sam Brocksom

In a thrilling, tough and close contest, Leeds Rhinos Women played out a hard-fought 12-12 draw with York Valkyrie at the LNER Community Stadium.

Tries came from Lucy Murray, Sophie Nuttall and Zoe Hornby whilst Eloise Hayward made her return to the side.

The first action of the half went to the hosts, as a Ruby Enright error from kick-off gave York a great chance to put points on the board. And that they did, forcing a repeat set then finally crossing through Sade Rihari. Tara-Jane Stanley was successful with the conversion and Valkyrie led 6-0 after three minutes.

After countless errors from both sides, the Rhinos finally added some points. A quarter of an hour later, Lucy Murray scored her first try of the season, picking up a loose ball 5 meters out and scoring to the right of the posts. Enright failed to add the extras.

Former Leeds forward Rhiannon Marshall then crashed over against her former side to give York a 12-4 lead. The scores remained the same until the break, but not before Hayward was sent to the sin bin for a trip on Stanley.

Both teams were fired up as the action restarted. Sophie Nuttall started the comeback with a try ten minutes into the half. The winger has been ever present all year and used elusive footwork to get to the line. Enright was unlucky with the conversion, as the wind took the kick wide.

Unfortunately, Nuttall’s game was put to a halt shortly after as she had to be stretchered off the field due to a bad tackle. She was replaced by Izzy Northrop, who also had an injury earlier in the game but recovered.

After a long break in play, Leeds got us back underway, and it didn’t take long for the Rhinos to pounce. Zoe Hornby used impressive speed and strength to cross for her third try of the season, carrying multiple defenders over the line as she went. Enright couldn’t convert and the game was level at 12-apiece with 15 minutes to go.

Plenty of action came as both teams scrambled to try take home the two points. York managed to break from deep and looked certain to score but a tremendous effort from Izzy Northrop stopped the Valkyrie in their tracks. The prop has been in impressive form all year, with eight tries to her name already.

As the clock wound down, both teams were desperate for some points. Drop goal attempts from Stanley and Rhiannon Marshall almost gave York the edge but a charge down from Hornby kept the game hanging in the balance. York then were awarded a penalty goal 20 meters out, but Stanley couldn’t convert.

Leeds almost snatched the victory in the last four minutes, as the ball was worked left but Hardcastle just couldn't keep the ball and the chance went begging.

Tensions were high and the emotion was clear to see from the players. That was shown when Keara Bennett just mistimed her tackle on Stanley, resulting in a sinbin and forcing Stanley off the field. The Rhinos managed to hold out however and grind out the draw, and it provided good preparation for a huge Challenge Cup semi-final against Wigan next week.

Leeds: Enright, Hayward, Beevers, Butcher, Nuttall, Casey, Greening, Hornby, Bennett, Northrop, Hardcastle, Murray, Dainton, Subs: Earnshaw-Cudjoe, Glynn, Anderson, Robinson.

Tries: Murray, Hornby, Nuttall.

Goals: Enright 0/33