LEEDS RHINOS won their second Women’s Nines title with a pulsating 16-8 final victory over Manchester Swinton Lionesses.
Edge Hill University in sunny Ormskirk played host to the fifth edition of the festival, which once again had a new format.
There were two separate tiers – a ‘challenge grade’ for the top clubs, and a ‘community grade’.
The group stages of the main competition also included Wigan Warriors, St Helens, York Valkyrie, Huddersfield Giants and London Broncos, while Widnes Vikings dropped out in the week beforehand.
None of the giants brought their senior squads, with the following week’s Challenge Cup semi-finals the priority, and 2023 winners Leeds won with their Under 19 side.
They beat Wigan and the Lionesses in the group stage before knocking out St Helens in the semi-final.
Manchester Swinton, meanwhile, defeated Wigan to reach the semis, where they beat Huddersfield.
The fans were treated to some excellent play from all the teams taking part and there were certainly some future stars on show.
Rhinos coach Ellis Pascall was very happy with his side and commented afterwards: “It was a brilliant festival.
“It was a lot different from the 13-a-side game and it gave us opportunity to look at players in different positions and scenarios.
“The pace of the game was good, and it helped with the development of our group. We had a squad of 20 players today and were allowed to use 15 in each game so there was even competition for starting places.
“This is a great format, and it was good to see the girls embracing the concept as they start their push to get to the Super League squad.”
The teams eliminated in the group stage contested a shield and Wigan – overall champions the previous two years – took the spoils 12-8 against York.
During the break between the finals there was a rapid nines competition where each team put in one player and they had to race 90 metres to take the spoils – this was won by Lionesses winger Grace Pritchard who seemed to be left behind at the start but raced away to win this for the third time in three years by a couple of metres.
The community grade featured two Rochdale Hornets teams, Bradford Bulls, Halton Farnworth Hornets, Wigan St Patricks, Thatto Heath Crusaders, Leamington Royals and Newcastle Thunder.
In the community final, Rochdale’s first team defeated Bradford 8-4, while St Patricks defeated Thatto Heath 6-4 in the shield final.
Image: Shot By Bamboo