Betfred Women’s Super League Round 10
Sunday 17 August 2025
Leopards Den (1pm)
Leigh Leopards 0-72 Wigan Warriors
Leopards are finding it tough in their first season in the Betfred Women’s Super League, but they are far from the only team in such a situation.
The eight-team elite league of the women’s competition in this country is effectively split between four top teams, of which the Warriors are favourites to complete a league and cup double.
Defending champions York Valkyrie, St Helens and Leeds Rhinos complete the top four.
Over the weekend of Round 10, the top four played each of the bottom four teams (Leopards, Barrow Raiders, Warrington Wolves and Huddersfield Giants) and the results are telling. 284 total points scored, none conceded.
Saints 48-0 Giants; Raiders 0-78 Rhinos; Valkyrie 86-0 Wolves.
Until this huge imbalance is sorted out it’s hard to see where the competition is going.
Leopards were easily the best team in the Championship last season and earned their place in the elite by winning three grand finals. A tough way to earn your rightful place in Super League.
The players, all amateurs, have trained hard since last November, have an elite level 4 coach in Kieron Purtill, are committed, training at least three times a week as a team, with other days on their own.
They are athletic, their skills have improved discernibly, and they have a great team spirit and strength of togetherness.
Yet despite all that they come up against an elite team and suffer demoralising defeats against a long established team like Wigan, packed with internationals and bolstered by overseas players.
Despite all the Leopards efforts- and their effort was never called into question- this was a fearful drubbing. Eight tries conceded in the first half, six in the second.
A good-sized crowd at the Leopards Den enjoyed the sunshine, thrilled at some of the skills and athleticism of the visitors, and admired the never-say-die attitude of the Leopards.
But as a contest it was thoroughly one-sided.
Warriors scored some close-range tries, some spectacular tries from distance. They threw good shapes, stayed disciplined and focused, apart from a late yellow card to prop Shaniah Power, and went about their business with a clinical approach.
Leopards tried hard to bridge the gulf, none more so than winger Freya Turner who was excellent on her Super League debut.
But in the entire game they carved out just one scoring opportunity, Becky Greenfield hauled down just short of the line late in the game after Leah Morris’s assist.
All the best teams are based on defence as a benchmark, and Warriors clearly have solid foundations in that department.
Warriors’ fullback Grace Banks scored four tries, including a first half hat-trick, with braces for Anna Davies, Tiana Power and Eva Hunter. Isabel Rowe kicked eight conversions.
Of their 14 tries, nine came from backs, five from forwards.
This was Leopards’ 50th game since the women’s team was established in 2023. They have made enormous progress since then and become an essential part of the fabric of the club.
But one-sided contests such as this one, and the other three in the competition this weekend, pose an enormous challenge for the RFL as they seek to progress the fast-developing profile of the women’s game in this country.
Leopards
Hattie Dogus; Toryn Blackwood, Mackenzie Taylor, Becky Greenfield, Freya Turner; Rhianna Burke, Leah Morris; Alice Fisher, Kate Howard, Lucy Johnson, Keli Morris, Abby Latchford, Storm Cobain
Bench:
Sam Brazier, Abi Gordon, Grace Hill, Macy McDermott. 18th player: Mollie Young (not used)
Warriors
Grace Banks; Anna Davies, Kaitlin Hilton, Molly Jones, Tiana Power; Jenna Foubister, Isabel Rowe; Holly Speakman, Remi Wilton, Shaniah Power, Eva Hunter, Cerys Jones, Megan Williams
Bench:
Carys Marsh, Rease Casey, Jade Gregory-Haselden, Mia-jayne Atherton. 18th player: Rachel Thompson (not used)
Tries:
T Power (2, 60), Davies (7, 38), S Power (10), Banks (22, 32, 35, 64), C Jones (28), Hunter (42, 51), Atherton (56), Hilton (71)
Goals:
Rowe 8/ 14
Sin bin:
S Power (78)
Scoring sequence: 0-4, 0-8, 0-12, 0-18, 0-24, 0-30, 0-36, 0-40(ht) 0-44, 0-48, 0-54, 0-60, 0-66, 0-72
Referee: Brandon Worsley; Touch judges: S Harrison & E Wright
Penalty count: 5-4
GLDO: 1-0
