Women's RL: Grand Final success still to sink in for Leeds Rhinos star Fran Goldthorp

The 16-year-old winger bagged a brace of tries in a player-of-the-match performance for Leeds Rhinos when they beat Castleford Tigers 20-12 in the Betfred Women’s Super League Grand Final.

Goldthorp was also a try scorer in Rhinos Coral Challenge Cup final victory over the same opposition three months ago, just weeks after an injury crisis led to her being promoted from Leeds under-19s academy.

Also a talented cricketer, who has played rugby union for West Park, Goldthorp’s Grand Final double took her try tally for the season to 12 in 17 appearances and Rhinos coach Adam Cuthbertson reckons she is a potential future England star.

Goldthorp, however, insisted her team-mates deserve all the credit.

“I don’t think it will sink in for a few days,” she said of her own accolades and the team’s victory. It’s amazing, everyone put in all the work and I just put the ball over the line. It’s credit to all the girls.”

A Leeds win didn’t look likely when Tigers scored two unconverted tries in the opening six minutes, but Goldthorp insisted belief among the players never wavered.

“Not at all,” she said. “I thought we had it throughout the whole game, we just knew we all had to buy in, everyone as a team.

“We knew if we were down, we just had to keep building back up because we knew we’d be able to tie them down and then score in the end.”

Rhinos finished third in the league, but won both major finals and Goldthorp said the double success “shows how much grit and determination we’ve got as a team”.

She insisted: “To put all that effort in, we are all together as one and it shows how much spirit we have.”

The Grand Final was the first Women’s Super League match to be broadcast live on Sky TV, something the teenager said is “massive for the women’s game”. She recalled: “It was absolutely amazing [on Friday] with all the banners and everything, it was absolutely incredible.”