Play-off agony for Leeds Rhinos as York Valkyrie storm into Women's Super League Grand Final

Leeds finished second in the table, one place ahead of York on points difference and the semi-final was equally tight. Rhinos did well to trail only 6-0 at half-time after 40 minutes on the back foot, but a try immediately afterwards put York in control.

Leeds halved the gap with 16 minutes left, Valkyrie had a player sin-binned late on and Rhinos scored a second try with two minutes to go, but that was unconverted and York held on. They were the better team for an hour; Leeds played well when they got going, but it was too late.

Both teams have been disrupted by injuries this year, but in the end the loss of key players including Caitlin Beevers, Rugby Enright, Beth Lockwood, Elle Frain and Jasmine Cudjoe - plus Zoe Hornby’s midseason departure - proved too much for Leeds. There were positive signs for the future, though, with the emergence of young players including Ebony Stead, Ruby Walker and Ruby Bruce who stepped up from the academy and gained valuable game time.

Rhinos were pinned in their own territory for most of the opening half, but conceded only once. Kelsey Gentles, the former Castleford Tigers winger now playing in the middle, held off Hanna Butcher and Amy Hardcastle to storm over after 20 minutes and Rhiannion Marshall, an ex-Leeds player, added the extras.

Referee Aaryn Belafonte thought York had scored the opening try within five minutes, but was overruled by his video assistant Liam Rush. Sade Rihari kicked behind Leeds’ line, Hardcastle tried to hack dead and instead stood on the ball, but neither Lisa Parker nor Lacey Owen managed to get a hand to it.

There was another escape soon after half-time when Rihari went in from close-range, but lost the ball in the act of touching down and Rush agreed with the on-field call of ‘no try’. It took Leeds 24 minutes to get into York territory and they created only two chances, when Hardcastle was pulled down just short and Liv Whitehead being tackled into touch near the flag by Remi Wilton.

The visitors took a grip on the game with a try a minute after half-time, Savannah Andrade crossing after Whitehead dropped a high kick by Marshall, who tagged on the two. Leeds created heavy pressure after that, but York’s defence held firm until 14 minutes from time when impressive full-back Stead finished superbly from Caitlin Casey’s pass and Keara Bennett landed the conversion from wide out.

York’s Tamzin Renouf was sin-binned six minutes from time for an off-the-ball challenge, then Casey kicked to the corner and Evie Cousins was held back by Eboni Partington, but Lucy Murray touched down. The on-field decision of try was confirmed, but it was too far out for Bennett to land what interim-coach Leon Crick admitted was an almost impossible kick to level the scores. Had Murray not scored, it would probably have been a penalty try with a conversion from in front of the posts.

The first five penalties went to the visitors and the count finished six four. There were five set restarts, all to Leeds. Crick reflected: “I couldn't fault their effort, they all stuck at it. It would have been easy at 12-0 to crumble a bit, but they got better and better as the last 20 minutes went on. But for 60 minutes we didn’t really challenge York enough to be able to get into the game and it was just a bit too late when we started doing it.”

Leeds Rhinos: Stead, Cousins, Hardcastle, Robinson, Whitehead, Butcher, Casey, Sykes, Bennett, Donnelly, Hoyle, Murray, Dainton. Sub s Bruce, Northrop, Walker, Glynn.

York Valkyrie: Hetherington, Wilton, Roberts, Parker, Partington, Rihari, R%enouf, Bell, Wood, Brennan, Owen, Andrade, Pakulis. Subs Marshall, Gentles, Sharp, Exley.

Referee: Aaryn Belafonte (Huddersfield).