The catch-up of the 2021 Women's Super League season culminates in this post with the semi finals and Grand Finals of both the Play-Offs and Shield.
Super Saints Crush Castleford
St Helens cruised into the Super League Play-Offs Grand Final after a 58-0 hammering of Castleford Tigers Women at the Totally Wicked Stadium. The hosts stormed into a 20-0 lad inside the opening 24 minutes with Carrie Roberts, Paige Travis, Tara Jones, Jodie Cunningham and Leah Burke all crossing for tries. The lead became 32-0 into the interval as Cunningham struck for a second time and Channy Crowl touched down with Zoe Harris converting twice.
Braces for Jones, Travis and Burke came before the hour mark with Harris converting all but the latter score for 48-0 before she improved an effort from Dani Bush on 72 minutes with Burke completing her hat-trick in the final minutes to round off the 58-0 rout.
Rhinos Edge Out City Knights
Leeds Rhinos Women sealed a spot in the Play-Offs Grand Final with a 22-18 win over York City Knights Ladies at the Totally Wicked Stadium. York started the better of the two sides with Olivia Wood crossing inside three minutes and Emma Hardy converting for 6-0 before adding a try of her own for 10-0. Leeds hot back with Tasha Gaines crossing for 10-4 before Kelsey Gentles went in for York on the half hour mark to ensure a lead of 14-4 into the interval.
Leeds were level by the hour mark as a self converted try from Courtney Winfield-Hill cut the gap to 14-10 before Sophie Nuttall's effort made it 14-14. The Rhinos completed the turnaround on 64 minutes with Nuttall crossing for her second try with Winfield-Hill converting to put them ahead for the first time at 20-14. York cut the gap to 20-18 with Hardy going in for her second try but it was the Rhinos who celebrated overall with Winfield-Hill adding a penalty goal on 74 minutes to wrap up a 22-18 victory.
Featherstone Rovers Ladies sealed a spot in the Shield Grand Final with a 30-12 win over Bradford Bulls Women at the Millennium Stadium. Rovers struck first with Brogan Kennedy crossing for 4-0 before Bailey Alexander touched down to level at 4-4. Hannah Donald went over to put the Bulls 8-4 ahead and the lead remained into the interval.
Fev hit back ten minutes after the restart as Brogan Churm crossed and Katie Hepworth converted for 10-8 before a second try from Kennedy extended the lead to 14-8. Bradford cut the gap with a Sarah Dunn effort for 14-12 but on the hour mark, Fev restored a two score advantage with an Olivia Grace try and Hepworth conversion for 20-12. Hepworth added a penalty goal before a momentous score rounded off the afternoon as Rovers veteran Andrea Dobson crossed in her final home game before retirement with Hepworth confirming the win with a conversion for a 30-12 final score.
Giants Glory Against Wolves
Huddersfield Giants Women secured a spot in Shield final with a Golden Point Extra Time victory of 30-26 against Warrington Wolves Women. The Wolves truck first with a Michelle Davis try for 4-0 before improving a score from Georgia Sutherland to make it 10-0. Ellie Jelves crossed to extend the lead to 14-0 before Hudds got off the mark with a Rachael Barker try which Frankie Townend converted for 14-6 into the interval.
Warrington restored their three score lead with 44 minutes played as Sutherland crossed for a second time with Davis kicking for 20-6 but Hudds soon battled back to 20-16 with scores from Bethan Oates and Ellie Thompson coupled with a conversion from Townend. The Wolves looked to have sealed the win with a Georgia Westwood try (Davis conv) to make it 26-16 with nine minutes remaining but Hudds had other ideas as Amelia Brown crossed twice in three minutes with Townend converting only the latter to force Golden Point Extra Time. The comeback was complete for the Giants on 93 minutes as Erin Stott crossed to seal an historic 30-26 win.
Hudds Hurrah As Rovers Rue
Huddersfield Giants Women capped off a superb season with a narrow 24-22 over Featherstone Rovers Ladies in the Shield Grand Final, which at the time of writing meant they were placed in the higher tier of the 2022 Women's Super League. The Giants opened the scoring with a self-converted try from Frankie Townend for a 6-0 lead before Chloe Billington crossed to cut the gap to 6-4. The two sides exchanged scores as Bridget Campbell (Townend conv) crossed for Hudds and Olivia Grace went over for Fev with Katie Hepworth kicking for 12-10 into the interval.
Brogan Churm (Hepworth conv) crossed within four minutes of the restart to put Rovers ahead at 16-12 before a rapid brace from Amelia Brown saw Townend convert both for a 24-16 lead for the Giants just before the hour mark. Churm claimed her second try on 63 minutes which Hepworth converted to close the gap to 24-22 but the Giants held on to the narrow lead to claim the Shield.
Super Saints Seal Treble Triumph
St Helens Women stormed to a 28-0 victory against Leeds Rhinos Women in the Play-Offs Grand Final to complete an historic treble having won the League Leaders Shield and Challenge Cup earlier in the season. Saints suffered an early blow with the sinbinning of Jodie Cunningham inside ten minutes before opening the scoring on 20 minutes through Leah Burke for 4-0. Cunningham crossed just before half-time with Beth Stott kicking for a 10-0 lead into the interval.
Burke claimed her second try before Amy Hardcastle raced over on the hour mark to push the lead to 18-0 and with Zoe Harris (Stott conv) and Dani Bush crossing, Saints wrapped up a 28-0 victory to complete the clean sweep.
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