York Valkyrie 10 Leeds Rhinos 16

Tries from Shona Hoyle and Caitlin Beevers helped Leeds Rhinos Women earned an important 16-10 away victory over York Valkyrie at the LNER Community Stadium.

Bethan Dainton returned from international duty whilst Keara Bennett completed her one-match suspension in the win over Warrington. There were three swaps on the bench too as Zoe Hornby, Bella Sykes and Ella Donnelly came in to replace Tara Moxon, Elychia Watson and Kaiya Glynn.

As expected in a Leeds vs York clash, there was very little to separate the two teams. Both sides spent the first quarter of an hour figuring each other out, but it was the hosts who broke the deadlock. After an error by Shona Hoyle, York had a full set of possession in Leeds’ 20 meters. The ball was spread out wide and Eboni Partington exploited the overlap to score. Tara-Jane Stanley was successful with the kick from out wide.

Momentum started to shift in the Rhinos' favour as Amy Hardcastle made a break down the middle. Leeds couldn’t capitalise on that effort but minutes later a break from Caitlin Beevers set up space for Hoyle to get over and level the scores after half an hour. Enright was on target from the boot.

The only other points of the half came from the boot of Enright again. In the final minute of the half, Savannah Andrade caught Caitlin Casey too high so the full back took the shot at goal and was successful – giving Leeds a two-point lead at the break.

The second half started very much like the first, with both teams jostling for a foothold in the game. It wasn’t until just short of the hour mark that Beevers went from assister to try scorer. Some great play involving Enright and Casey led to the centre scoring in her third consecutive game. Enright added the extras from the sideline to give Leeds a two-score, 14-6 lead.

Minutes later, York looked to open their account for the second half, but the referee deemed Emma Kershaw to have used a double movement, giving Leeds a penalty. More ill-discipline from York gave Enright the chance to add over another two, which she did to increase the gap to 10 points.

Valkyrie did manage to get one back, as Lacey Owen found a gap on the left edge. Stanley couldn’t add the extras and that would be the last points of the match, resulting in a 16-10 victory for the Rhinos ahead of the Challenge Cup Semi-Final against Wigan next weekend.

Leeds: Enright, Whitehead, Beevers, Hardcastle, Cousins, Butcher, Casey, Field, Bennett, Northrop, Hoyle, Murray, Dainton. Subs: Hornby, Sykes, Donnelly, Greening.

Tries: Hoyle, Beevers Goals: Enright 4/4