Leeds Rhinos out to end Wigan Warriors dominance in Women's Super-fours

The sides meet tomorrow (Saturday) at AMT Headingley in a curtain-raiser to the sold-out men’s clash between the same sides. It will be the teams’ third encounter this season with Wigan having won a Betfred Women’s Super League fixture 18-10 in May and 26-20 last weekend in the Super-fours, both on their own turf.

The defending champions have already secured top spot on the table and a place in the Grand Final, to be staged at Wigan, but Leeds need a point from their two remaining fixtures to book home advantage in the semi-final. Rhinos, who play host to St Helens next week, are on the back of successive defeats, having lost by four points at York Valkyrie a fortnight ago, but Murray believes they can turn the tables on Wigan and end the visitors’ unbeaten record in 2026, if they play for the full-80.

“It was a really close game last week,” she recalled. “If we’d played at the start how we did in the last 60 minutes it would definitely have been a different game and I think we’d hopefully have come home with the win. We know we can be better this week and Wigan will want to improve too. I think it will be a great game, especially with the sell-out crowd and on Sky Sports as well.”

Leeds trailed 20-0 after as many minutes in the previous match so a better start is the obvious priority this time. “It was probably more a mental thing,” Murray said. “We were in the arm wrestle for the first couple of sets, then we lost our way a bit. We managed to switch our mindset and stay in the game which I think shows the resilience we’ve got in the squad.

“Pretty much it felt like a Grand Final, especially in the last 20 minutes when we were trying to get on the scoreboard to win the game. It has given us confidence going into this week, despite the fact we didn’t win. We showed that resilience and kept them from scoring again and again and got points on the board to prove we are fighting up there with Wigan.”

Leeds are unbeaten at AMT Headingley this year and Murray stressed they need to make home advantage count, now and in the semi-final. “Everyone wants to be at home for the big games,” she stated. “It’s easier for the supporters to get down and families and things like that and it’s where you get the opportunity to train, but regardless of where we play we will be up for it.”

Ruby Bruce and Lacey Owen are back in contention for Rhinos, but Ella Donnelly, Sophie Nuttall and Caitlin Beevers remain on the casualty list.

Rhinos (v Wigan): from Enright, Stead, Cousins, Whitehead, Howard, Walker, Bennett Glynn, Owen, Murray, Brown, Bruce, Boyd , Short, Bryer, Sharp, Naidole, Wambalu, Hirst, Elliston, Sykes.

Referee: Tara Jones (St Helens). Kick-off: Saturday, 5.15pm.