Leeds Rhinos youngsters get chance to shine in women's rugby league 9s festival on home turf

Rhinos are set to field a young side for the tournament which they won in 2023 and were runners-up at last year. The event is being staged at West Park Leeds and for the first time, qualifying and play-off games will be played on the same day, with group fixtures in the morning and championship, cup or shield ties in the afternoon.

Rhinos face Warrington Wolves, Swinton, North Wales and Scotland in Group A and coach Lois Forsell revealed: “What we are looking at is having more of an under-19s squad. It is quite a long day and when we’ve had a tough run of games and a busy schedule coming up, we don’t want to take any more knocks. The squad size we’ve got this year - 25 - has been pretty tight and when you get a few knocks you struggle for quite a lot of weeks on the bounce.”

Rhinos’ academy have beaten fellow big guns Wigan Warriors, St Helens and York Valkyrie in 13-a-side matches this season and Forsell added: “A lot of them will feature in that competition in a Leeds Rhinos shirt. They are going really well at the moment, they are unbeaten and developing really well under Ellis Pascall and his coaching staff.

“That is what we are really big on, we want homegrown talent and to make sure we are developing players and they are coming through our system. We are lucky we’ve got a great coaching team and staff and the club fully supports it.

“On Friday [against Leigh Leopards in Betfred Women’s Super League] we had Ebony Stead, Ruby Walker, Connie Boyd, Ruby Bruce - they have all come through that system and that’s what it’s all about, having some young players who will hopefully feature for Leeds Rhinos for years to come and get their career to the highs we know they can achieve.”

Rhinos begin their group campaign against North Wales at 10.45am. They play Warrington at noon, Scotland at 12.30pm, and Swinton at 1.15pm. The final of the shield (for teams from 13th-17th in the groups) is scheduled for 3pm, the cup final (teams from ninth-12th) at 3.20pm and the Women’s nines final at 3.40pm.

Other teams taking part are: group B St Helens, Huddersfield Giants, London Broncos, Leamington Royals; group C Wigan Warriors, Barrow Raiders, Hull KR, Northumbria University; group D York Valkyrie, Leigh Leopards, Cardiff Demons, Wakefield Trinity. York’s squad could include new signing Adaoha Akwiwu, who is a former Rhinos player.