Championship & League 1

[The Blues Ox]

Good luck to all teams starting their league campaigns today.

London V Cardiff to kick it off is a big game right at the start. Fev start their attempt to get back in to SL at home to Hull, and to answer a question I asked on another thread, Evie Sexton is apparently named in the Hull squad rather than been sent on DR to Sheffield although I can't find confirmation of this on the web. Oulten V Cas could turn out to be a battle of 2 of the 3 teams that are expected to be near the lower end of the table, Oulton have apparently lost a few players over the off season and Cas have found it hard to compete for players with teams around them. Salford and Sheffield I feel like they are two clubs that could be on a par with each other but I had heard Salford lost players to Swinton and don't know how true that is so this game may give us a better idea. Swinton V Bradford is the final game and I would expect a comfortable win for Swinton in this one.

In league 1 Fryston V Widnes looks to be the pick of the ties, I saw Widnes only named a 22 player squad this season and after last season I expected them to build and be one of the teams capable of winning this league but if that is correct then they may have lost some players. Fryston are always a tough team but won't be allowed to DR with Fev this season which will be a blow to them. Halifax V Wakey could see Wakey pick up their first win in around 2 years, its a big step up for Fax who did not win promotion last year and I don't see any big improvements in their squad where as Wakey have benefitted from Dewsbury folding and also from the Giants U19's coach going there. From what I hear Wakeys games could be played in the stadium this year which is great news for them especially if they are competitive. Illingworth V Stanningly is an interesting one with Illingworth traditionally one of the strongest teams in this league and Stanningley dropping down a division. Illingworth have apparently lost some players to SL teams and have some new names in their squad, one name coming back for another season is Debbie Smith who will get to play another season with her daughter who is herself playing on DR from York. Workington V Leigh I have no idea how this game will go, Leigh looked to be improving rapidly at the back end of last season but they got hammered a week or so ago by a Bradford team that is not that impressive and you wonder if players have moved on.  Their junior set up is very impressive and they look like they will be a force if they can hang on to some of the talent. Workington won League 2 last season but I really don't know too much about them to be honest but like every team in Cumbria, I expect them to play pretty tough and be no easy beats.

[BroncoFan]

Great post.

I didn’t see Evie Sexton on the team sheet for Hull FC, her sister Kacey was on the bench though.

London v Cardiff ended in a 22-22 draw.

I think that league is going to be pretty tight, Salford had a good win over Sheffield, I think Salford have the best up and coming player in the league in Anna Dennis.

[RBKnight]

Sun 23rd March 2025 results

Championship

London Broncos 22-22 Cardiff Demons

Featherstone Rovers 44-0 Hull FC

Oulton Raidettes 16-8 Castleford Tigers

Salford Red Devils 12-4 Sheffield Eagles

Swinton Lionesses 34-6 Bradford bulls

League 1

Halifax 8-80 Wakefield Trinity

Illingworth 4-30 Stanningley

Workington Town Ladies 26-4 Leigh Miners Rangers

Fryston Warriors 34-32 Widnes Vikings

League 2

Ashton Bears 16-12 Batley Ladies

Ulverston 18-24 Heysham

 

Credit: Women's Rugby League Podcast

Edited March 24 by RBKnight

[The Blues Ox]

9 hours ago, BroncoFan said:

I didn’t see Evie Sexton on the team sheet for Hull FC, her sister Kacey was on the bench though.

I wonder if that is where the confusion has come from then.

I guess we didn't learn much from the London V Cardiff match apart from those 2 teams look evenly matched.  Fev travel to London next week after than dominating win against Hull so we should learn more then.

Good win for Salford against Sheffield, slightly surprised by the Salford win but does look like it were a tight game.

A couple of shocks in League 1, not overly shocked by the results but more the scorelines. Illingworth beaten for the first time at home in over a year and pretty convincingly. By the sounds of it Stanningley played some really good rugby despite having 2 players sin binned. For Illingworth they had 7 players either playing their first competitive game of RL or first game of open age so it may be a year of consolidation for them. For Halifax I never saw that scoreline coming, it had been mentioned that Wakey have benefitted from Dewsbury folding and I think that is their first win in 2 years, Illingworth travel to Wakey next week where we should learn more but for the moment you have to think there could be a new top 2 emerging in League 1 this season. For Halifax they must be wondering if they made the right choice asking to jump up a division.

[RBKnight]

Just seen the Sheffield Eagles squad for their match at Hull KR tomorrow, has a big York feel.

Four Valkyrie U19's, one Valkyrie on dual-reg (Lisa Parker) and two ex-Valkyrie in Lucy Eastwood and Georgia Taylor (who is also on the York coaching staff!)

[The Blues Ox]

1 hour ago, RBKnight said:

Just seen the Sheffield Eagles squad for their match at Hull KR tomorrow, has a big York feel.

Four Valkyrie U19's, one Valkyrie on dual-reg (Lisa Parker) and two ex-Valkyrie in Lucy Eastwood and Georgia Taylor (who is also on the York coaching staff!)

Not a huge fan of DR as you know but I presume the four U19's don't have community clubs so this would make sense for them to get game time at a higher level to aid their development. Also with the U19's it should not have as much bearing on the overall league table as it would if Sheffield were bringing in say 4 York first team squad members.

[BroncoFan]

Agnes Wood is out, broke her hand or something like that.

[RBKnight]

2 hours ago, The Blues Ox said:

Not a huge fan of DR as you know but I presume the four U19's don't have community clubs so this would make sense for them to get game time at a higher level to aid their development. Also with the U19's it should not have as much bearing on the overall league table as it would if Sheffield were bringing in say 4 York first team squad members.

Yep, Chev Clarke and T'Leesha Fredrick-Maynard will be playing all season for Eagles. Situation for Lisa Parker is a bit like a Super League club signing a Chamionship player, then loaning them straight back.

[The Blues Ox]

A quick look at the fixtures today:-

Championship

Cas V Cardiff - You would imagine this will be Cardiff's first win in the Championship.

Hull V Swinton - Both moved up from league 1. I think Swinton win this one, the hype around them has been really good and doing a great job promoting the womens game. For Swinton I think mid table would be a good result and for Hull avoiding getting caught up in the Cas and Bradford bottom 2 would be great for them.

Hull Kr V Sheffield - Hard to judge this one as I thought Salford beating Sheffield last week was a shock.

London V Fev - The game of the week between 2 teams who should be near the top of the table. I think if Fev can go down there and get any sort of convincing win then they have to be good money to come straight back up to SL(depending on the format).

League 1

Leigh MR V Fryston - Leigh results pre season and last week can only point to a big Fryston win.

Stanningley V Workington - Interesting game, I would say Stanningley are big favs after their huge win last week but I really don't know much about Workington this season.

Wakefield V Illingworth - Another interesting game, Wakey are obviously much improved from last season and the Illingworth team seeing some of their main players from last season returning for this one after a poor result against Stanningley last week.

Halifax V Widnes - On the face of it this is just a question of how many Widnes score and although its early days Fax look out of their depth at this level. Also of note that Fax's games are been played at King Cross this year making it, if I am correct, 4 new homes in 4 seasons for them which is crazy.

[Lucy_1873]

Any idea where I can keep up-to-date with these fixtures, for the Wakey game especially?

[RBKnight]

Great wins for Hull KR and London yesterday in the Championship.

[The Blues Ox]

22 hours ago, Lucy_1873 said:

Any idea where I can keep up-to-date with these fixtures, for the Wakey game especially?

https://www.rugby-league.com/competitions/community-leagues/women-girls-rugby-league/match-centre

That is your best bet for fixtures although it does not include the cup games I dont think. Some clubs post a lot about their womens teams as well on their socials but for some its like they don't exist. Wakey look like one of the clubs that is very pro-active and have all their teams under the same banner.

Just trying to catch up on yesterdays games and will post a few thoughts once I have talked to friends who were at some of these games.

[The Blues Ox]

I guess there were no real shocks in the Championship with Cardiff picking up their first ever win along with wins for Swinton and Hull KR, the Hull KR win as RBKnight mentioned looks a great win and I really expected that to be closer. In the game of the week it sounds like london caught Fev cold off the bus and although Fev did come back late on it was too little too late. As expected London do look like they could be the biggest threat to Fev going back to SL if they can keep their squad together for the full season and don't lose players to Union late on towards the play offs.

In League 1 the Fryston game against Leigh MR was closer than I expected with only 6 points seperating the 2 teams with Fryston picking up the win. As mentioned I really know little about Workington and they ran Stanningley very close suggesting that Workington could be one of the better teams in the division. Wakefield made it 2 from 2 in a game that by the sounds of it was decided in the last 10 minutes with illingworth having an equalizing try disallowed before Wakefield scored in the last minute to make the win look a touch better than it might have looked. With pretty much a new team on the field Wakefield win be enjoying that winning feeling after spending 2 seasons losing. As expected Halifax got another large beating and by the sounds of it picked up injuries with one of their better players looking at a long lay off with an arm injury. This season is already looking like it will be a slog for them.

No league games next week with it been the 1st round of the cup and in a crazy decision the winners from League 1 and 2 will be made to travel to Championship teams if they get through their first round games.

[The Blues Ox]

Got over to watch Fax V Wakey today. Fax raced in to a 10-0 lead before Wakey came back at them and ultimatley ran away with the game. At 40-14 a better result than most had anticipated but I always got the feeling Wakey turned up a bit complacent just wondering how many points they would put on them. For Fax Huddersfields Emily Butterly looked their best player before going off with what looked like a nasty kneee injury and for Wakey their fullback caused Fax a ton of problems along with their strong running back row No.12 who Fax struggled to deal with all afternoon. 

All in all the results in the first round of the cup went as expected although I don't think I had believed that Thatto were going to lose as many players as they had made out when they requested to be removed from League 1 but their loss to Leigh MR seems to suggest it was the right choice.

The one sided looking draw for the next round currently stands at:-
Bradford V Rochdale Mayfield
Cas V Stanningley
Hull V Queensbury
Hull KR V Workington
Oulton V Fryston
Swinton V Leigh MR
Salford V Wakefield
Bye Widnes

Would have been miles better with a random draw but Cas V Stanningley and Oulton V Fryston look the pick of the round. The rest will go with the home teams.

[The Blues Ox]

Cas with a good win against Stanningley winning 14-6 but Fryston were able to shock Oulton beating them 20-22. The rest of the games, as expected, were blowouts.

[The Blues Ox]

Im hearing rumors today that both York and Huddersfield are stopping their U19's from playing community RL, in Huddersfield's case as a result of Emily Butterly picking up a nasty looking knock for Fax last week. If true then its going to have a large effect on a number of community clubs one being Queensbury who had to travel to Hull yesterday with only 14 players. I hope community teams come together and are selective which teams they encourage their players go to and make some of these teams actually have to do some work scouting rather than just hoovering girls up that they know full well are very unlikely to play first team at SL level and risk losing them to the game when they drop them like a bad habit.