Leeds Rhinos suffer shock defeat in final game before Wembley clash with St Helens
Leeds Rhinos will go into Saturday’s Betfred Women’s Challenge Cup final on the back of a defeat after a shock 20-16 loss to Huddersfield Giants at Headingley on Sunday.
Even with many of Rhinos most influential players rested, it was a poor performance against a team who had lost all their previous games this year and been nilled twice by Rhinos.
Huddersfield raced into an 8-0 lead after 15 minutes through a brace of tries by winger Amelia Brown. The rest of the first half was a tale of Rhinos’ missed chances as Izzy Northrop dropped the ball over Giants line and was held up after crossing, as was Lucy Murray.
A stunning tackle by Sophie Nuttall kept the gap at the break to eight points and Leeds levelled in the second half after Bella Sykes scored a debut try against her former club and Tasha Gaines touched down from Sam Hulme’s kick.
But Emma Wilkinson’s try nudged Giants back in front and through debutant Angel Bentley pulled four points back, Brown’s hat-trick try and Ellie Thompson’s second conversion gave the visitors an eight-point advantage.
Jasmine Earnshaw-Cudjoe grabbed a late try for Rhinos, but Eloise Hayward’s fourth missed kick left them four points adrift.
Leeds Rhinos: Nuttall, Hayward, Bentley, Robinson, Moxon, Hulme, Gaines, Anderson, Earnshaw-Cudjoe, Lockwood, Frain, Murray, Northrop. Subs Greening, Sykers, Costello, T Brown.
Huddersfield Giants: Bennett, Coates, Preston, Naidole, A Brown, Townend, Grady, McPherson, Oates, Wilkinson, Thompson, Da Silva, Fisher. Subs Davidson, Armstrong, Arrowsmith, Barker.
Referee: Jayden Covell-Wood (Huddersfield).