Rugby League broke new ground in Wales with the first Girls Champion Schools games. Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf and Ysgol Gyfun Rhydywaun met at Years 9 and 11, with Glantaf prevailing in each contest to earn ties against English schools at the next stage.
Efa Williams bagged a brace in the 42-0 win at Year 11, while Elen Price scored a try and seven goals from as many attempts. Olivia Lucas, Madison Isgrove, Lilly Taylor and Catrin Davies also crossed. Megan Elin Jones, meanwhile, totalled 28 points with six tries and two goals in the 46-6 success at Year 9, and Hannah Charitos scored a try and a goal. Elan Hall also touched down and Olivia Rawnsley appended three conversions. Catrin Lemos replied for Rhydywaun and Darcie Trow added the extras.
Wales RL CEO Gareth Kear, said: “It is another historic day. Rugby League is a simple game to learn and play as evidenced today. If you can run, catch, pass and tackle, then you can enjoy Rugby League. Well done to all players and teachers.”
The Wales RL, meanwhile, will run national development sessions in the east, west and north after successful Under 18s and Under 16s trials at Caerphilly. “Our first session was coached by current women’s full international stars,” said Kear, who added: “Players will now be competing for selection and an international cap for our Wales U16s team, that will play a full international for the very first time this autumn.”
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The ‘Life with the Lionesses’ project at Heritage Quay, Huddersfield, which will celebrate more than a quarter of a century of Women’s international Rugby League and which is being driven by former referee Julia Lee, is to benefit from a collection of unique memorabilia – donated by Lee herself.
The Rugby Football League Archive at Heritage Quay – the archives service for the University of Huddersfield – will house items lodged by Lee including a signed England Wildcats rugby shirt, scrapbooks, photographs and a rugby ball signed by the Great Britain Lionesses who toured New Zealand in 1998.
Lee, who is keen for other former women RL players and supporters to get involved, said: “We are trying to get in contact with previous Lionesses and women who have supported Rugby League throughout their lives.
“Anyone who has any items of interest, or who has stories of playing, coaching or involvement in women’s Rugby League, should get in touch with us and help to raise the profile of the women’s game.”
The Life with the Lionesses project is, meanwhile, looking for volunteers to help with cataloguing the collection. Dr Becky Bowd, University Archivist at Heritage Quay, said: “I’m delighted to add Julia’s collection to the RFL Archive at Heritage Quay. The Life with the Lioness project is a fantastic opportunity to raise awareness of women’s contribution to Rugby League.
“Women are currently under-represented across many of our collections, but especially so in the RFL Archive. We hope this project will uncover stories and collections that will lead to increased female representation in the RFL Archive.”
Anyone wishing to get involved is invited to contact jane.phillips@csi2012.co.uk
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England Community Lions have launched a well-being programme following a successful trial event at their Ruskin Drive base at Pilkington Recs.
The event centred on Under 19s head coach Allan Coleman trial games ahead of the autumn’s European Championships in Italy, and is being run in conjunction with the RFL and Rugby League Cares. Amateur players will be subject to the same mandatory well-being modules as their professional and semi-professional counterparts.
Steve McCormack, Director of Welfare at Rugby League Cares and Head Coach of the Community Lions Under 16s, said: “It was forward thinking from the RFL and the Community Lions staff and Rugby League Cares to put things in place. It was really important to make sure our community players have access to what all the other England performance teams have.
“The community game is the heartland of our sport, the people that coach, volunteer and play at that level, of all ages, do a fantastic job and this is so important for people’s lives and their well-being.
“We’ve always identified, as a sport, that well-being is important. Certainly, from a Rugby League cares point of view, we’ve been involved in looking after the wellbeing of the sport since 2019, so we’ve put a lot of these programmes in place for the professional game. To add this layer to what is already a really good programme in the community game is something we can be really proud of.”
Areas covered by the programme include modules on anti-doping, social media awareness, and financial well-being. Staff will also be encouraged to undertake the same training.
Coleman added: “Presentations from Steve McCormack and Tim Holmes offered a really good insight and gave players information that they won’t have had at their clubs.”
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Hats off to Warren Robinson and Finlay James of Woolston Rovers Under 12s.
The duo embarked, last Tuesday, on a mammoth adventure of running twelve kilometres a day for twelve days – all in aid of their team and local charities.
Finlay and Warren can be supported at Crowdfunding to Raise money for Woolston Rovers U12’s and charity of choice on JustGiving.
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WALES JUNIOR ORIGIN GAMES
At Ystrad Mynach, Saturday.
UNDER 14S
EAST WALES 30
WEST WALES 26
By IAN GOLDEN
Easts dominated the early part of the game with Jake Harries scoring out wide after nine minutes and Charlie Bennett following him over in similar fashion after 18.
Finlay Walker couldn’t land those two kicks but didn’t waste the easier opportunity after Paddy Bateman ran through from kick-off.
That made it 14-0 and it was soon 18, when Thomas Howe added a fourth try, which went unconverted.
West’s comeback started five minutes before the break with a Leo Bonham try to put the score at 18-4, but within five minutes, they’d pulled it back to 18-14.
Hudson Nevin was first over, jinking through from dummy half, before a 60 metre run from kick-off by Ben Coomer put the score to 18-12 with Juris Kesans converting for the first time.
Kaven Phillips extended East’s lead two minutes after that, with Walker adding the goal, before Kesans scored the first of his brace of tries.
A Bailey Cutts try in the corner pulled the score back to 24-22 with Kesans unable to level the scores but, after West were penalised from kick-off, Tobie Cribb scored the winning try, with Walker converting.
Kesans had the last say with a try that he couldn’t improve, before a head injury to Walker, who was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure, led to the game finishing five minutes early.
UNDER 16S
WEST WALES 36
EAST WALES 34
By IAN GOLDEN
West’s Troy Shearan scored three minutes from time and landed the winning goal to bring a thrilling clash to a rousing climax.
Ethan Stebbings struck first for Easts after just two minutes, scoring in the corner, but Shearan slid in for the first of his four tries a few minutes later to level things.
Jake Nottingham then broke away, after a fabulous passing move, to give Wests the lead after nine minutes. Again the kick was missed and West were 8-4 up.
East regained possession from the kick-off, resulting in a well worked set, and Dan Bartless scored under the sticks. Mason Apsee converted, and Oliver Ford extended the lead to 14-8 on 17 minutes.
But, from the next set, Nottingham took advantage of a loose ball and ran over 50 metres for his second try of the game.
West took advantage and scored again, through Charlie Stoddart, who couldn’t land the extras – but his side was back in front.
However East soon regained the lead with Dan Bartlett and Daf Morgan each scoring out wide.
But the score was brought back to 22-20 on the dot of half-time thanks to an unconverted Tom West effort.
West scored quickly after the break, with Shearan going over and Leon Caviel converting. Shearan clinched his hat-trick ten minutes later to give his side an eight-point lead.
East weren’t finished yet, Bartlett forced his way under the sticks with Henry Parker converting to bring the score back to 30-28 to Wests on 57 minutes.
The hosts looked like they had it won when Carter Pritchard scored on 71 minutes and Apsee converted, but they didn’t count on the heroics of player of the match Shearan. The second row forward scored out in the corner with four minutes remaining, then calmly landed a touchline conversion to give his side a dramatic victory.
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Leading Doncaster amateur outfit Bentley, who are preparing for life in the National Conference League from next month, have been given extra cause for celebration with a World Cup grant of over a quarter of a million pounds. £252,856 is being pumped into the south Yorkshire club via the RLWC2021’s CreatedBy Capital Grants Programme, taking the total large-grants awards past the £15 million mark.
Bentley will use the windfall to development a permanent home, including a new pavilion, on a new site, aiding the club’s sustained progress and its involvement in the local community. In addition, neighbouring clubs will be able to make use of the new facilities. Pete Wainer, the club’s President, said: “This a huge moment for us, and something we’re very grateful for. The new development opens up so many doors for us as a club and the community and I’m sure all our players can’t wait to use the new facilities when they are complete.”
Jon Dutton, RLWC2021 Chief Executive, added: “Our ambition has always been that RLWC2021 will be the biggest and best Rugby League World Cup in history with social impact at the heart of everything we do.
“Bentley have shown themselves to be a progressive club in recent years, reaching the third round of the Challenge Cup in 2020, and hopefully with the help of our programme as a result of this grant, they can continue to inspire the community with their performances on the pitch.
“They have also shown a real dedication to developing the future of Rugby League in the area, and this grant will help support them through their outreach work across Doncaster.”
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The Castleford & Featherstone ARL convenes tomorrow evening (Tuesday 15 February) at its Glasshoughton WMC base. The meeting starts at 7.30pm.
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