LEEDS RHINOS 30 YORK VALKYRIE 10
LORRAINE MARSDEN, AMT Headingley, Saturday

LEEDS left it late to seal their second win of the season against a York side still finding their feet under new coach Leon Pryce.

In a game that was tight throughout, the hosts needed a quickfire try double from Grace Short and Keara Bennett either side of the 70-minute mark to pull away from York, who in patches showed real determination and resilience in defence.

The game got off to a tense opening in which both sides made numerous errors and were guilty of some poor decision making. But it was Leeds that finally found the breakthrough when Kaiya Glynn was fed by Ruby Walker ten metres out to cross for her first Rhinos try in three years.

That score was followed immediately by a second when good work by former Valkyrie Lacey Owen sent Nicole Kennedy over in the corner.

Mel Howard couldn’t make it two from two with the boot from out wide but Leeds were 10-0 up and looking to take control of proceedings.

However York had other ideas, ran hard at the Leeds line and finally got their rewards when Tamzin Renouf squeezed in at the corner after good work from Petra Woods.

Ellie Williamson added the touchline conversion to reduce the deficit further and the rest of the half played out as a tight battle until two minutes from the break.

A neat offload sent Ruby Enright racing towards the line, but she was stopped just inches short by the York defence. From there the ball was worked left on the last and Ebony Stead touched down in the corner.

Howard again failed with the conversion but Leeds went in 14-6 to the good.

Enright was then involved again minutes after the break when her final pass found in-form centre Connie Boyd to cross out wide.

Despite their early half dominance, in which they forced back-to-back drop-outs, Leeds couldn’t make it pay and York once again worked their way into the contest and were rewarded when Sade Rihari showed some good footwork to dummy her way to the try. Williamson missed the conversion and it remained a two-score game.

Leeds thought they had hit back straight away through Walker, but the try was ruled out for an obstruction in the build-up.

Instead they had to wait another seven minutes to increase their lead when a neat offload by Walker put Short through a gap to score.

Howard’s second conversion of the afternoon put more daylight between the sides, and just three minutes later Bennett went over from dummy-half for her first try of the season.

Walker took over with the boot and added the conversion to seal victory for Leeds, who held firm for the final eight minutes.

GAMESTAR: Leeds halfback Ruby Walker controlled the game well and had a hand in a couple of tries.

GAMEBREAKER: Grace Short’s try ten minutes from the end, converted by Mel Howard, made it a three-score game and gave York too much to do to get back into it.

MATCHFACTS

RHINOS
1 Ruby Enright
5 Liv Whitehead
27 Nicole Kennedy
15 Connie Boyd
2 Ebony Stead
6 Mel Howard
7 Ruby Walker
13 Shannon Brown
9 Keara Bennett
10 Kaiya Glynn
12 Lucy Murray
11 Lacey Owen
8 Ella Donnelly
Subs (all used)
14 Ruby Bruce
17 Grace Short
21 Frankie Blakey
24 Pauliane Wambalu

Tries: Glynn (12), Kennedy (14), Stead (38), Boyd (42), Short (69), Bennett (72)
Goals: Howard 2/5, Walker 1/1

VALKYRIE
26 Liv Turner
27 Ruby Ellis
23 Monique Donovan
21 Petra Woods
2 Eboni Partington
6 Sade Rihari
7 Ellie Williamson
8 Liv Wood
14 Izzy Bibby
15 Megan Pakulis
11 Tamzin Renouf
24 Lisa Parker
9 Sinead Peach
Subs (all used)
4 Tara Moxon
10 Jas Bell
16 Agnes Wood
18 Izzy Brennan

Tries: Renouf (25), Rihari (58)
Goals: Williamson 1/2

SCORING SEQUENCE: 6-0, 10-0, 10-6, 14-6; 18-6, 18-10, 24-10, 30-10

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Women of the Match
Rhinos: Ruby Walker; Valkyrie: Monique Donovan

Penalty count: 2-4
Half-time: 14-6
Referee: Joe Stearne