'No room for excuses': Leeds Rhinos' clash with St Helens huge for Women's Super League

With two games remaining in the regular season, Rhinos are top of the table on points difference from York City Knights.

Defending champions St Helens are third, four points behind with a game in hand.

Leeds face York, the only team to beat them in the league this year, in their final match so it is all to play for as the leading three sides battle for home advantage in the knockout semi-finals.

“It has been a bit of a topic of conversation between us all, how close it is at the top of the league,” Rhinos’ England back Caitlin Beevers said.

“The competition is amazing, it is going to be tight and it might even go down to points difference so we are very aware of how important these upcoming games are.”

Leeds hit back from 14-0 behind to score a stunning 20-18 win in a Sky-televised thriller at Saints in June, thanks to Courtney Winfield-Hill’s conversion of a last-gasp try by Fran Goldthorp.

“In the first half we definitely didn’t put out what we were capable of, so being able to pull that back and get the result we did will give us confidence going into this game,” Beevers stated.

Saints had two late touchdowns ruled out by the video referee and Beevers admitted Leeds - who have scored 194 points and conceded just 18 in their three games since - would probably have lost if the fixture hadn’t been televised.

The rematch is not on Sky, but is a curtain-raiser to the men’s clash between Rhinos and Salford Red Devils.

“There’s no room for excuses, it’s about how you perform on the day,” Beevers stressed.

“We’ve got to make sure we don’t leave anything out on the field, because special occasions like this - family day at Headingley, playing before the men - is taking the women’s game in the right direction.

“We’ve just got to put on a performance to make people want to come back and watch women’s games.”