Leeds Rhinos boss hails Wembley return, targets St Helens revenge after Challenge Cup win v Wigan Warriors

Rhinos secured a second successive Wembley appearance with a 34-20 win over Wigan at St Helens’ TW Stadium this afternoon. Saints await in the final on Saturday, June 8 when Leeds will aim to make it third time lucky after defeats by the same opponents in 2022 and 2023.

Rhinos didn’t have things all their own way in the semi-final, trailing three times before finally getting a grip on the game in the second half. Bennett’s late try sealed the win and personal redemption after she missed the previous final through suspension.

Speaking in Rhinos’ post-match press conference, Bennett - who played the full 80 minutes in sapping heat - admitted last season’s agony has spurred her on. “Adversity builds your fire,” she said. “Today that was one of the drivers of me pushing through the hard times.

“Sometimes you miss out on those opportunities, but it’s what you do off the back of that [that matters]. It is exciting what we are building here and it’s a personal one so I am really excited and over the moon.

“We made it tough for ourselves, but everyone bought in and we’re going to Wembley. For the try, I thought ‘I’m in here’ took the risk and got the reward.”

Full-back Ruby Enright, 20, scoffed two tries in a player of the match performance. She played in last year’s final and is “buzzing” to get back to Wembley.

“I think we made it really hard for ourselves today, but I can’t wait to get back there and hopefully get the win this time,” she said. “If we work together, we will get it this time.”

Coach Lois Forsell admitted Leeds took a while to get going, but had no complaints about their overall performance. “In the first half we were pretty erratic and we didn’t do what we do really, really well,” she said. “We will learn from that.

“It is only our second tough challenge of the season. The girls are learning a lot about themselves as a group. We took longer than we’d like to get control of the game, but we did it and we are off to Wembley, so we’ll take that.”

The Leeds coach admitted seven-tackle sets, errors and penalties took their toll in the first half. She added: “We just weren’t in control. We spoke a lot about that before the game, but the girls are only human and I think you can see that in semi-finals - you get a bit nervy and go away from what you’re really good at. We did that, but it was nice to get back in it together and I am proud of them for that.”

Rhinos were without former Saints forward Shona Hoyle for the semi-final. Asked if she’ll be available for Wembley, the coach said: “You can try stopping her if you want. She has broken her finger at the top so it’s one for us to manage over the next couple of weeks, but she is chomping at the bit and ready to go today if you asked her, so I am sure we’ll see her at Wembley.”