2021 Women's Super League Round Two Review

Amid the sporting social media boycott, round two of the Women's Super League took place on Sunday with the four game split between Victoria Park, Warrington and Belle Vue, Wakefield and due to no club updates, I followed the Fev/Leeds clash live on Twitch.

Rampant Rhinos Rout Rovers 

As mentioned above, Featherstone Rovers Ladies faced reigning champions Leeds Rhinos Women at Belle Vue with the Rhinos romping to a 72-0 win. A rapid start from the Rhinos saw Orla McCallion, Tara Moxon and Ellie Oldroyd all cross inside ten minutes with Courtney Winfield-Hill converting twice from three attempts for 16-0. The contest looked over by the interval as scores from Fran Goldthorp,Hanna Butcher, Caitlin Beevers and a brace from Adaoha Akwiwu were coupled by a trio of conversions by Winfield-Hill for 42-0 into the interval. 

The Rhinos spree resumed four minutes after the restart with Chloe Kerrigan crossing for 46-0 and the Rovers defence showed improvement from the first half by keeping the Rhinos out until just before the hour mark when Oldroyd claimed her second score (Winfield-Hill conv) for 52-0. Leeds wrapped up the win with four tries in the final 15 minutes, Butcher and Goldthorp claiming second scores ahead of Sophie Robinson and Zoe Hornby crossing with Winfield-Hill ending the afternoon with eight successes with the boot in the 72-0 win. 

Wondrous Warriors Beat Bulls 

The opening game of the afternoon at Victoria Park saw Wigan Warriors Women secure consecutive wins with a 38-0 victory over Bradford Bulls Women. The Warriors raced out of the blocks with Vanessa Temple crossing inside five minutes for 4-0 before Vicky Molyneux and Anna Mary Davies crossed in the space of four minutes with Georgia Wilson converting the latter for 14-0. Wilson crossed for a try of her own before the interval following efforts from ex-Bull Amy Boardman and Emily Stirzaker (Wilson conv) for a 28-0 lead into half-time. 

The second half proved to be a closer battle than the first with the scoreboard untroubled until 62 minutes when Rebecca Greenfield crossed for the Warriors and the final say on the score came seven minutes from the end as Davies claimed her second try which Rachel Thompson converted to wrap up the 38-0 win. 

Terrific Tigers Topple Trinity

The second game at Belle Vue saw a Yorkshire derby as Castleford Tigers Women eased to a 44-0 win over Wakefield Trinity Ladies. A close first half saw just four scores as Hollie-Mae Dodd, Leah Jones, Eva Izumi and Lucy Eastwood all crossed for tries which gave the Tigers a 16-0 lead at the break. 

The Tigers spree resumed with a Georgia Roche try before Dodd claimed her second and Shona Hoyle touched down with a single conversion from Roche making it 30-0. Dodd completed her hat-trick before a late brace from Georgie Hethertington saw Jones convert to complete the 44-0 victory. 

Super Saints Humble Huddersfield

St Helens Women top the standings after being highest scorers for the second week in a row, this time with a huge 90-0 win over Huddersfield Giants Women at Victoria Park. The Saints stormed into a 28-0 lead inside the first quarter with Rachel Woosey and Emily Rudge crossing twice followed by efforts from Amy Hardcastle and Tara Jones, Faye Gaskin adding two conversions. After leading 52-0 at the interval in the opening round, Saints went into the break at 46-0 this time as Naomi Williams and Paige Travis' efforts were sandwiched by Hardcastle's second and Rudge's hat-trick tries.

Danielle Bush pushed the lead to 50-0 with five minutes gone in the second half, a second from Williams and hat-trick try from Woosey saw Gaskin convert the latter for 60-0. It became a case of how close Saints would go towards matching last week's huge win and they went one score better as Jodie Cunningham crossed before the stacks continued. Hardcastle claiming her hat-trick, Bush her second score and then the feat of Hardcastle and Rudge both registering their fourth efforts of the afternoon with Gaskin kicking a total of nine successes with the boot to round off the 90-0 rout.