Eight different clubs will be represented on Sunday when Yorkshire and Lancashire face off in the first Women’s Rugby League Origin fixture of the season.
The game, which kick’s off at 10:45am forms the first game of Sunday’s action at the Summer Bash in Blackpool.
Table toppers Castleford Tigers, who are so far unbeaten in the league, have eight players selected – but it will be a strange day for Lancashire-born fullback Tara Stanley, who will now be on the opposite side to many of her Tigers team-mates.
Leeds’ Amy Johnson, one of five Rhinos players selected, will be in the same boat as she too will be wearing the Red Rose, despite playing club rugby in Yorkshire.
St Helens, who lost their first match of the season against Castleford on Sunday, also provide eight players for the Lancashire squad, while Wigan have seen six players selected. Warrington’s Roxy Murdoch and Michelle Davis, who recently made the move from Wigan, makes up Lancashire 17 and the duo are the only players from outside Super League to be involved.
The Yorkshire squad is completed by three Bradford Bulls players, two from York City Knights and one from Featherstone Rovers.
Newcomer Wakefield Trinity is the only Super League side not to be represented on the day.
England Women’s head coach Craig Richards will use the game to see some of the leading contenders for places in the World Cup Nines in Sydney this October playing at a higher level than regular club rugby.
Two members of Richards’ England support staff will take charge of the Origin rivals, with Castleford head coach Lindsay Anfield leading Yorkshire, and the former England men’s full-back Shaun Briscoe working alongside Wigan’s Amanda Wilkinson for Lancashire.
The game is the first of a two-match series, with Yorkshire to host the return fixture on June 16.
Lancashire are the reigning Origin champions, having won a tight game 16-10 on Yorkshire soil in Featherstone last year.
Yorkshire: Dannielle Anderson (Leeds), Savannah Andrade (Bradford), Caitlin Beevers (Leeds), Charlotte Booth (Leeds), Hanna Butcher (Leeds), Grace Field (Castleford), Kelsey Gentles (Castleford), Amy Hardcastle (Bradford), Katherine Hepworth (Featherstone), Shona Hoyle (Castleford), Ashleigh Hyde (York), Leah Jones (Bradford), Rhiannon Marshall (Castleford), Sinead Peach (Castleford), Tamzin Renouf (Castleford), Georgia Roche (Castleford), Daisy Sanderson (York).
Lancashire: Lucy Baggaley (Wigan), Leah Burke (St Helens), Chantelle Crowl (St Helens), Jodie Cunningham (St Helens), Michelle Davis (Warrington), Zoe Harris (Wigan), Amy Johnson (Leeds), Tara Jones (St Helens), Sarah Lovejoy (St Helens), Roxette Murdoch (Warrington), Emily Rudge (St Helens), Tara Jane Stanley (Castleford), Vanessa Temple (Wigan), Rachel Thompson (Wigan), Naomi Williams (St Helens), Katie-May Williams (St Helens), Georgia Wilson (Wigan).
