Leeds Rhinos relishing the chance to finally defend their Wheelchair Challenge Cup title

Rhinos will square up to their Kent rivals in an eagerly-anticipated final at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield tomorrow.

It is Rhinos’ fourth successive Cup final appearance, following back-to-back defeats to Halifax and a famous win over the same opposition two years ago.

When Rhinos’ men won at Wembley last year, Leeds held all three Challenge Cups. The men’s and women’s trophies have since gone elsewhere – both to St Helens – but the wheelchair side are determined not to relinquish their prize.

Last year’s competition was cancelled and Rhinos’ long-serving player Jodie Boyd-Ward admitted: “It feels like it has been a long time coming, having the opportunity to defend the title.”

She said: “The Challenge Cup final and the Grand Final are two of the biggest events in the domestic calendar for wheelchair. It’s very exciting for me and the rest of the team because the pressure is on us to defend that title and we work best under pressure. We are all raring to go.”

Argonauts are something of an unknown quantity for Leeds, so the focus is on getting their own game right. Boyd-Ward said: “We haven’t had much opportunity to compete against Argonauts this season.

“We played against them in the Challenge Cup round-robin, but not in the domestic league. We know what they are going to bring and what to expect to some extent and some of my Leeds team-mates compete alongside some of the Argonauts at England.

“I competed against them for Wales at the Test match in June and I think we are ready. We will be looking for a good game and I’ll be very surprised if we don’t come out with a win.”

Boyd-Ward is a former England star, but switched to Wales in January and is likely to be one of their key players in the World Cup, which has been put back a year to the autumn of 2022.

“I transferred for personal reasons and it has had a really positive impact on me,” she said.

“I am back to enjoying my sport and enjoying competing. It is definitely strange at times because four of our Leeds team are at England, but it makes for some interesting training sessions.”

Now 28, Boyd-Ward is in her 14th year playing the wheelchair game.

Originally from Wolverhampton, she moved to Leeds eight years ago to play for Rhinos. She started out playing wheelchair basketball for Wolverhampton Rhinos, but took up rugby league when they tried the new sport.

“It is our [Rhinos’] 10th anniversary this year and I joined two years after the team was formed,” she recalled.

“To be honest, I hated rugby league to begin with. I did the first training session and my first opinion was ‘I don’t want to do this’ because I wasn’t used to taking hits in the wheelchair sports I played.

“I took a little bit of a break from the beginning of it in Wolverhampton and then came back to it and it was like something had sparked and ignited and all of a sudden I fell in love with it.

“It definitely was one that grew on me and when we moved to Leeds I was playing at Rhinos with my younger brother as well, so I had that support there with me.”

The final will be broadcast live by BBC Sport online from 12.30pm. Tickets will be on sale at the venue tomorrow.

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