Leeds Rhinos 16 Castleford Tigers 10: ‘Ray of sunshine in dark season’ for Headingley camp as women retain the cup

The female version is a growth area, in terms of the number of participants and clubs and the playing standard.

The recent involvement of Super League clubs has added an element of professionalism to the work already being done at the grassroots and there is now a genuine pathway from girls’ level to the international arena.

Two years ago, Bradford Bulls defeated Featherstone Rovers in a Challenge Cup final staged at the Heworth community club in York. Last season, Warrington was the venue when Leeds Rhinos beat Castleford Tigers and, on Saturday, those sides met again, with the same outcome, at University of Bolton Stadium as the opening part of a triple-header with the men’s semi-finals.

That illustrates how rapidly the women’s game is growing. With live coverage on the BBC’s red button service it was the most high-profile women’s club match staged in this country and the 4,000-plus spectators in the ground were treated to a gripping contest.

Though the quality in women’s rugby league can vary, at its top level it can be an outstanding spectacle.

Despite being holders, Leeds went into the tie as underdogs against a rampant Castleford team who were unbeaten in all competitions this season and had thrashed Wakefield Trinity 100-0 in their semi-final.

In fact, both Tigers’ two previous games had been comfortable wins over Trinity while Rhinos had faced back-to-back meetings with this year’s other top side, St Helens, winning there in a close Cup semi-final before a Super League defeat at Headingley.

Leeds, beaten 27-0 at Castleford earlier in the season, were more battle-hardened and that proved the difference in a tight encounter which swung one way and then the other before the interval and became a tense arm wrestle in the second half rain.

Leeds’ match-winner was their captain, Australian scrum-half Courtney Hill, a former top cricketer who took up rugby league last year after moving to England.

Hill supported a break from outstanding front-row Danielle Anderson to score the decisive try midway through the second half. She also converted that and Leeds’ opening touchdown, which her kick created for winger Fran Goldthorp, who made a key defensive contribution with a series of try-saving tackles in the second half.

Leeds’ other try-scorer was teenage full-back Caitlin Beevers, who last year became the first female to referee at Wembley when she took charge of the boys’ year seven curtain-raiser to the Challenge Cup final.

Beevers ran round the defence from a scrum deep in Tigers’ territory to give Leeds a 10-4 advantage.

Tigers had begun the scoring when Rhiannion Marshall stormed over for a super individual effort and levelled through a try by Tamzin Renouf from Claire Garner’s excellent pass, Tara Stanley converting.

Rhinos’ chief executive Gary Hetherington described the win as a “ray of sunshine in an otherwise dark season” for the club and coach Adam Cuthbertson was “just so proud of the effort of the girls”.

He said: “We came into the game as underdogs, but I kept feeding them the same message over the last couple of weeks - you’ve got 80 minutes to go out there and you don’t get a second chance at it.

“We talked a lot about sacrifice and I think the girls did that, they went out there and they sacrificed themselves for the cause and for one another.

“They played selfless which resulted in a great victory.”

Though hugely disappointed, Castleford coach Lindsay Anfield had no complaints.

She said: “I thought Leeds were the better team right from the start.

“Defensively, they were absolutely outstanding and we just couldn’t break them down.”

Leeds Rhinos: Beevers, Nuttall, Robinson, Kerrigan, Goldthorp, Butcher, Hill, Anderson, Gaines, Johnson, Staveley, Booth, Lacey. Substitutes: Priim, Bennett, Frain, Oldroyd.

Castleford Tigers: Stanley, Dodd, Owen, Grace, Gentles, Roche, Garner, Field, Peach, Lumley, Renouf, Hoyle, Marshall. Substitutes: Watts, Higo, Reynolds, Cudjoe.

Referee: C Worsley (Castleford).