Leeds Rhinos Women's U19s got their year off to a winning start as Matty Bullough's side defeated Featherstone Rovers 36-4 at West Park RUFC.

Despite early pressure from the visitors in the opening five minutes, the Rhinos held their nerve to hit the front inside of ten minutes. A poor kick on the last tackle from Featherstone saw Ruby Bruce take possession for Leeds inside their opponent's half. A further penalty for a high tackle on Connie Boyd aided the Rhinos closer to the try line and hooker Bruce caught Rovers’ defence napping with a sniping run out of dummy half to score.

Leeds continued to threaten and should have crossed for their second try moments later through Angel Bentley, but the centre lost the ball diving for the try line. Sienna Sharp also looked to capitalise off another Featherstone mistake but was held up short of the line.

The pressure finally paid off as the home side opened up a ten-score lead. Shavon Craven couldn’t hold onto a pass coming out to the right edge, and Amelia Hirst swooped onto the loose ball. Spotting an overlap on the short side, Ruby Walker timed her pass perfectly to put Connie Boyd over to make the score 10-0 after 15 minutes.

Try number three came on the twenty-minute mark, courtesy of full-back Ebony Stead, who shrugged off two attempted tackles to beat the full back and touch down. Captain Grace Short followed swiftly after as a set scrum play saw the loose forward spot a hole to power her way over. Walker converted both tries to take the lead to 22 points at the break.

Half time gave both coaches a chance to bring on their substitutes and Pauline Wambalu, Jess Oldroyd and Mayzi Carter made an instant impact as they almost put Sienna Sharp over in the corner, but she couldn’t keep hold of the pass and Featherstone survived. The Rhinos didn’t have to wait long to get their scoring back underway though as Stead grabbed her second; slicing through Rovers’ defence to score.

Sharp finally got her try on 50 minutes as a short drop out from Featherstone went straight into the arms of the back rower, who fended away from defenders to score a great solo try.

Featherstone mustered a response as Katie Evans scooted out of dummy half to get the visitors’ only try of the night, but it was the Rhinos that had the last laugh through Frankie Blakey. With the clock running out, the half back motioned out to the right and decided to go for the line herself to seal a 36-4 result.

Teams

Rhinos

1. Ebony Stead, 2. Tilly Davies, 3. Angel Bentley, 4. Brooke Henderson, 5. Amelia Hirst, 6. Ruby Walker, 7. Frankie Blakey, 8. Tilly Brown, 9. Ruby Bruce, 10. Cheryl Foudji, 11. Lilly Thompson, 12. Connie Boyd, 13. Grace Short

Subs: 17. Jess Oldroyd, 15. Mayzi Carter, 18. Lucie Benn, 14. Pauline Wambalu, 16. Sienna Sharp, 19. Chloe Winter

Tries: Bruce (8), Boyd (15), Stead (20, 40), Short (24), Sharp (50), Blakey (59)

Goals: Walker 4/5

Rovers

1. Kaitlyn Pycroft, 2. Bella Kendrick-Naylor, 3. Shavon Craven, 4. Lacey Sefton-Appleyard, 5. Emily Holmes, 6. Ellie Wainhouse, 7. Lillie Sutton, 8. Kaya Jo-Laing, 9. Julia Lowery, 10. Emillie Holmes, 11. Maddison Rainey, 12. Katie Evans, 13. Leah North

Subs: 14. Amie Ellerker, 15. Molly Downham, 16. Chenai Mateko, 17. Olivia Phelan, 18. Beth Cain, 19. Ruby Lockwood, 20. Tilli Mitchell

Tries: Evans (55)